A Woman's Touch
by fringeperson
Summary: Obi-Wan liked to think that she was a sensible sort of Jedi. Her master's ever-perfect hair pissed her off occasionally though, and maybe she wasn't exactly conventional. King Amidala hoped that he was doing the right thing by his people. He was very conscious of his youth, and the pretty Jedi didn't help with his feeling young at all. Fem!Obi-Wan, Male!Padme. Don't own. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Obi-Wan grimaced slightly to herself as she lowered the hood of her outer-robe. She wasn't vain, but no girl liked to have her hair messed up. Well, no girl that actually had hair, anyway. It didn't seem to bother the Twi'leks or the Togrutans any, except as something to giggle at when they saw it happening to others.

Honestly, how Master Qui-Gon kept _his_ long hair looking that good without _any_ effort was a mystery to the Padawan Jedi. She'd gotten no answer when she'd asked, and spying on him hadn't done her any good either. Rather, it had sent her racing back to her own quarters with a mortified blush on her face.

There was a reason why most Jedi Masters took for a Padawan someone of the same gender. Why didn't she listen to Siri and Bant when they were advising her against hoping for Master Jinn? Oh, that's right – because he was the most well-rounded Jedi, skills wise, that actually left the Temple more often than once a year and to places further away than the offices of Senators or the planet they were the specific designated guardians of.

Obi-Wan froze suddenly in the middle of smoothing her hair back into place.

"What is it, Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked, having noticed the sudden inaction of his student.

"A bad feeling, Master," she answered honestly, even as she forced herself to finish tidying her hair despite the disturbance.

"I don't feel anything," Qui-Gon replied.

Obi-Wan rolled her eyes playfully and a smirk danced across her lips. "Not about the mission, Master," she said, making it clear that it was the Unifying Force that had sparked this feeling in her. "Well, not directly," she corrected, a thoughtful frown crossing her face as she tried to decipher the feeling. "It's something... just beyond my reach," she complained with a frustrated sigh. "But imminent. I'm sure of that."

Qui-Gon grimaced slightly. "Please don't tell me your menstruation is coming up again," he requested.

Obi-Wan levelled a deeply unimpressed look at her Master. "I should hit you for that on principle, Master," she said flatly. "And no," she added. "That's _not_ it either." She wasn't due for another two-and-a-half weeks.

Qui-Gon gave a small sigh of relief. He hadn't initially wanted to take on another Padawan when Yoda had insisted on him coming to the Apprentice Tournament, not after the mess he'd made with his last Padawan. But the Living Force had practically hit him over the head with the demand he train Obi-Wan Kenobi the second he'd laid eyes on her – and that was when she was just waiting her turn, quietly laughing and smiling with a few of her friends – and he knew better than to defy the Force when it was being so damnably insistent.

He hadn't been happy about it, and he'd dragged his feet and had taken a lot of convincing in other ways as well, but in the time it had taken to get used to sharing his living space with another person again – and a female at that – she'd managed to get him past his reservations and wormed her way under his skin. However much the Order advocated against forming attachments (and thanks to the Initiate Trials that happened before even the Apprentice Tournament, they both knew exactly how much that was), in private they were as much father and daughter to each other as they were Master and Padawan.

"Don't focus on your anxieties Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon advised, now that his own anxieties had been laid to rest. "Your concentration should be on the here and now, where it belongs."

"Yes Dad," she answered teasingly, a smile on her lips. "Master Yoda has praised me for how I am mindful of the future though," she added.

"Just so long as it's not at the expense of the moment," Qui-Gon replied, a smile of his own forcing its way across his features, though he tried to be stern. Any time she teased him with that title, it got a smile from him. "Be mindful of the Living Force, young Padawan."

"Yes Master," Obi-Wan agreed, and changed the subject. "How do you think the Viceroy will deal with the Chancellors demands?" she asked. They had been ambassadors and mediators before, but this was a first for her – dealing with Neimoidians.

"These Federation types are cowards," Qui-Gon asserted. "Negotiations will be short."

Obi-Wan hummed neutrally and withdrew a personal recording device that she'd built with her friend Reeft back when they'd been Initiates. Having recorded proof of innocence when Bruck or Aalto started trouble had always useful when she and her friends were Younglings. Now, Obi-Wan checked the chronometer and spoke into the piece, giving time, place, and essential events before she clicked it off again.

Qui-Gon chuckled at that. He'd teased his Padawan in the past about being nearly religious in her use of the little device, but having her recordings certainly made reporting to the Council much easier when a mission was complete.

~oOo~ 

"Droid Tee-Cee-Fourteen has returned with refreshment, but no sign of our hosts," Obi-Wan reported into her recorder as she accepted one of the vessels off the tray the droid offered. "Master, is it in their nature to make us wait this long?" she asked, not turning off the device just yet, but rather, simply setting it on the table.

"No," Qui-Gon replied. "I sense an unusual amount of fear for something as trivial as this trade dispute," he answered, before he accepted a cup as well.

The sound of an explosion reached them then, along with the intense feelings of shock and the sudden cut-off that was the deaths of the crew of the ship they had come on. Both Jedi sprung up from their chairs, lightsabers in hand and ignited, ready for an attack.

The droid dropped its tray, mumbling apologies.

"The vents," Obi-Wan noted, seeing the white clouds billowing out.

"Dioxis," Qui-Gon stated as he shut off his lightsaber.

Obi-Wan grabbed up her recording device with one hand while she also turned off her lightsaber with the other, and both of them held their breaths. She didn't turn off her recording device though. If there was an attack, of any kind, then having evidence of it would be useful later, no matter the outcome.

The door that had shut them in with the gas finally opened, and TC-14 left first, carrying the tray and excusing itself to who- or whatever was beyond the sight-obscuring cloud. A mechanised voice said "check it out corporal, we'll cover you" from beyond the visible threshold, then "roger roger" and the soft clanking sound of a non-organic life form slowly walking forward.

The hiss of her master's lightsaber, and the sight of its glow signalled for her to do the same, and this was answered by an "uh-oh" and then "blast 'em." All those hours as an Initiate, learning from Master Yoda how to block simulated blaster-fire from a hovering little droid while effectively blind-folded were suddenly much more relevant than Obi-Wan had ever credited they would be. To say nothing of useful. Not to say she hadn't been in a fire-fight before, but generally she could see the shots coming with her eyes as well.

When they finished cutting down the droids that had actively been firing upon them, Obi-Wan used the Force to send the remaining droids flying back... and they ran.

"Where are we going, Master?" Obi-Wan asked as they ran.

"The bridge," Qui-Gon answered, his voice a deep growl. "We were sent to talk to the Viceroy of the Trade Federation. At this point, that is still what I intend to do."

A wonderful plan, really, and Obi-Wan only didn't roll her eyes at her Master because he wouldn't see, or notice, and there were more droids with blasters advancing on them. Obi-Wan deflected their fire and cut them down while Qui-Gon attempted to cut through the doors that were keeping them from the bridge. Behind the doors was a great metallic sound – the blast doors had been closed. Still, Qui-Gon was determined to get through, and Obi-Wan took her place guarding her Master's back while he got on with the matter of getting through.

Obi-Wan groaned when she saw the circles of metal come rolling around the corner.

"Two destroyers," she called out, letting her Master know of their presence, as well as getting on her recording device just what exactly they were now facing. It was an audio record only, not a holo-device as was more common these days. The advantage though was that she didn't have to stay in one place, a specific distance from the device, to make the recording.

Qui-Gon left the door be to defend alongside Obi-Wan, deflecting the blaster-fire of the much more efficiently violent droids.

"They have shield generators!" Obi-Wan complained when one blast she had deflected back at the droid had simply bounced off the shield and into the ceiling.

"This isn't working," Qui-Gon noted. "Run," he ordered frankly.

As soon as they were out of direct fire from the droids, Qui-Gon climbed into a ventilation shaft – which had Obi-Wan groaning. She _hated_ ventilation shafts. She always got dust through her hair and it took serious work to get out – especially out of her braids. For some reason, her Padawan braid was even more attractive to the dust in ventilation shafts than the others, and because of the beads through it, it was always the longest to re-braid after washing.

And again, Qui-Gon, damn him, never seemed to have that problem! Maybe it was because his hair was the same shade of grey at the dust, so it couldn't be seen, but still! What was his secret? Did he have some sort of Force barrier around his hair?

Still, she kept her grumblings to herself – aware that she still hadn't turned off her recording device – and was only grateful that there was _less_ dust in the ventilation shafts of this ship because the Neimoidians didn't have the same issues with skin and hair that humans did (they had their own skin-care issues), and their droids didn't shed too much metal dust from their grinding gears. There was some clothing fluff, but it wasn't the worst ventilation shaft she'd been dragged into by her Master.

Still, she was thankful when Qui-Gon picked an exit and she was able to drop out of the shaft and into the body of the ship once more.

"Battle droids," Qui-Gon pointed out.

"It's an invasion army," Obi-Wan breathed in shock as she looked around the hangar. "Which goes hand in hand with the explosion we heard earlier... The ship we came on," she added tightly, "being attacked and destroyed, killing the crew."

"It's an odd play for the Trade Federation," Qui-Gon said, but he didn't disagree. "We've got to warn the Naboo, and contact Chancellor Valorum. Let's split up," he instructed. "Stow aboard separate ships and meet down on the planet."

"You were right about one thing Master," Obi-Wan said, and continued when he gave her a questioning look. "The negotiations were short," she explained with a teasing smile. A smile which quickly dropped as she looked back out over the invasion army of battle droids. "You remember when I said I had a bad feeling Master?" Obi-Wan asked more softly. "Something imminent but out of reach? It's not quite so distant now. Still not immediate or clear, but a lot closer."

"Here and now, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon instructed grimly.

They split up, and Obi-Wan made note of the time for her recording device, then shut it off with the final comment that she was going to do as she had been instructed by her Master and hide on one of the ships.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Jedi. A Padawan, but a Jedi all the same. She had been raised as a Jedi, taught as a Jedi, very nearly sent off to join the AgriCorps when she wasn't chosen to be apprentice to a Jedi by the time she turned thirteen.

Jedi did not train their Initiates in the use of blasters. They trained to be able to reflect blaster-fire back at whoever was shooting at them, should the need arise. Jedi, on the whole, barely knew how to aim a blaster. Generally this was because they either tried too hard, or didn't try at all and instead relied on the Force to guide the shot – in the unlikely event that a Jedi even picked up a blaster for the purpose of using it.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Jedi. She just maybe wasn't exactly the most shining example of a Jedi to have ever walked the streets of Coruscant. She blamed Siri, in that friendly way one friend 'blames' another for having a skill. She also blamed Aalto, in a distinctly less friendly way, as being the reason she'd decided to acquire this particular skill in the first place.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Jedi who knew how to use a blaster. In fact, she knew how to use five different types of blasters. She knew how to take them apart, and put them back together. She also knew how to ride a speeder, a swoop bike, and had the basics down for most space craft that, as a Jedi, she would have no reason to be anywhere near the controls of – because that was what _pilots_ were for (and while, yes, there were some Jedi pilots, there weren't a lot, and Obi-Wan wasn't officially among their number like her friend Garen was).

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a woman, and she was twenty-five. She was sensitive to the Unifying Force, and a student to a Master who was more aware of the Living Force. She was practical and pragmatic, and she was not going to let this ship full of battle droids land on Naboo without interfering. It would be a complete waste of an opportunity.

Besides, for all that a lot of Jedi barely knew more than which end of a blaster to hold, Obi-Wan had learned to be quite a shot. All those times sneaking out with Siri and Quinlan to the lower sectors of Coruscant, releasing all their stress into the Force by acting as un-Jedi-like as they responsibly could. Of course, Quinlan had taken it further than either of the girls, and Siri had taken it further than Obi-Wan had, but even when they were _not_ being Jedi, Obi-Wan was sensitive to the guidance of the Force. Her 'misspent youth' wasn't quite as misspent as some.

The Council still wouldn't have approved, but Obi-Wan had never done anything that was actually forbidden by the Code. Not like Quinlan and Siri, who had both lost their virginity quite happily in the back of some nightclub in the lower levels of Coruscant. (Technically, even that wasn't strictly against the letter of the Code, but it was against the traditions of the Jedi Temple they had been raised in.)

It wasn't a long trip down to the surface of Naboo from the Trade Federation command ship. Still, Obi-Wan had time enough to drag her lightsaber through a few rows of not-yet-activated droids, collect some blasters, and hang them off a speeder which she would use once the ship finally landed. Which it did in short order.

"Ship has touched down on Naboo," Obi-Wan reported into her recorder once she'd checked her chronometer and given the time. "I am now going to commandeer a speeder, and some of the weaponry just in case, and move out to meet up with Master Qui-Gon."

There comes a slight problem, when making a getaway, if one has failed to completely remove any chance of being chased. Obi-Wan had only destroyed about half the battle droids on the ship before it touched down on Naboo, and making that little report into her recorder had alerted the first droid to activate.

She honestly hadn't thought they'd spring up quite that fast. But she'd been prepared all the same, and hopped onto the speeder she'd picked out for herself and raced off, away from the droid that was now chasing after her on another speeder, in search of her Master.

~oOo~

There was a leaf in her Master's hair, and a humanoid variant she'd never seen before following him. She nearly wanted to crow in triumph that finally – _finally_ – Qui-Gon Jinn's frustratingly perfect hair had been mussed! But it hadn't. The leaf that was caught in his otherwise perfect hair looked very much like it had been placed there on purpose, like an extra connection to the Living Force.

Damn him and his perfect hair.

"That won't be necessary," she heard her Master state firmly to the creature.

"Oh but it is!" it countered. "Demanded by the _gods_ it is!"

A shot of blaster-fire screamed over her shoulder. Dammit! She thought she'd lost the droid that had been tailing her!

Qui-Gon caught the blaster-fire on his lightsaber like he'd been waiting for it, and sent it straight back at the droid while Obi-Wan manoeuvred her stolen speeder to a halt by her Master.

"You saved my again!" exclaimed the orange-skinned creature as it regained its feet.

"Um... what...?" Obi-Wan tried to ask without smiling in amusement at her Master's discomfort. It was far too serious a situation in general to be laughing at minor misadventures.

"A local," Qui-Gon answered shortly as he eyed the craft Obi-Wan had claimed. "Can that thing carry both of us?"

Obi-Wan shook her head apologetically. "It really isn't designed for two, but I really want to get out of here before more droids show up," she said, unwilling to hop down even if going with Qui-Gon (which she would) would require leaving the machine behind.

"More?" the creature parroted. "More did you speak?!"

"That's right," Obi-Wan agreed. "A whole army of droids. They're invading the planet, and if they catch us, they will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces, and blast us into oblivion!" she declared with false cheer.

"My Padawan, as much as we are taught that there is no death, only the Force, you still don't have to sound so pleased about the prospect," Qui-Gon lectured with a stern frown.

"This way!" the creature bid suddenly, moving off and gesturing for them to follow. "I take you to Gunga City, tis a hidden city," he added. "Mostest safest place."

"A city?" Qui-Gon repeated, and did indeed follow after the humanoid. "You'll take us there?"

"The Bosses will do terrible things to me if me goin' back, but you-sa point is well seen. My-a been banished, but you-sa have me life-play, and you-sa say all the terrible things comin' our way, so..." he said as he led the way.

Obi-Wan turned the speeder to follow the humanoid that she still hadn't been introduced to.

"Gungans no likin' outsiders," the creature warned, and Obi-Wan supposed she now had a name for the type of creature he was. A Gungan. "So don't spect a warm welcome."

"Oh don't worry," Obi-Wan assured the creature. "This hasn't been our day for warm welcomes." It wouldn't matter much anyway, as she knew that Master Qui-Gon had a bad habit of using Force Suggestion to get what he wanted. One of these days, she was certain, he'd be faced with someone he needed something from, the Force Suggestion wouldn't work, and he'd be completely unable to talk his way out of it.

Obi-Wan made a quiet report into her recorder of having met the Gungan, and that it was taking them to his hidden city.

"We-sa goin' underwater, okie-day?" the Gungan asked when they'd travelled a good few miles, and gestured to the large expanse of water that was now spread out before them.

Obi-Wan winced slightly at the prospect. First dust in her braids, and now water that would probably not actually leave her feeling any cleaner – and would definitely cause her tunic to stick to her in uncomfortable ways when they left it behind. At least all the small gadgets she carried were water-proof.

And thank the Force that Qui-Gon, for all that he didn't care for visions of the future, advocated that they always be prepared for any eventuality whenever they left the Temple. There was certainly no other reason for them to have the slim underwater breathers tucked into their robes.

The Gungan's dive into the water was quite impressive, and the water itself as they waded out into it wasn't cold. It was very wet though, and now it was in her boots. Her boots that came up to her knees. And her robe was heavy once they were swimming after the Gungan. It was saturated and large. There was no way it could be considered light. It wasn't light even when it was dry.

She might have stopped to wonder why they didn't strip off before following the Gungan underwater, but she knew the reason: it would give a clue as to where they'd gone. It didn't matter how heavy the robes were, how uncomfortable having boots full of water was, or how much she suddenly was doubting the water-proofing on the various gizmos and gadgets she had stashed in the many folds and pockets about her person. None of that would be left behind when it could be useful to them and could lead the enemy to them if left behind.

Obi-Wan's eyes went wide as they crested an underwater ridge and what had to be Gunga City came into view. Hundreds of pods, all glowing an inviting, warm orange colour and anchored in place by... no, it wasn't anchored. Or if it was, she couldn't tell how. It all just floated in place, but not moving, and still it looked completely organic, as though the city had simply grown out from the sand and rocks that were so very far below.

It was beautiful.

And moving through the strange substance that was the shell of the pods, Obi-Wan was surprised to find herself suddenly completely dry. There wasn't even a hint of squelching in her knee-high leather boots. Incredible. She turned on her recording device subtly, knowing she wouldn't be able to make her usual, business-like little reports while they were in the hidden city without getting some unpleasant looks from its inhabitants.

"Amazing," she said softly. "I don't know what it is, but just walking through it and I'm completely dry," she muttered. Then a thought occurred to her. "I bet my hair's a mess though," she grumbled, and glared at her Master. His hair all just fell straight down, like it always did.

"So good bein' home!" their guide exclaimed happily, until another rode up to them on a... Obi-Wan blinked. Okay, she was going to have to either ask when they got to Theed, or look that creature up when they got back to Coruscant.

When. Not if. She felt assured in the Force that they would make it back to the city planet. It just... might not be soon. There were all sorts of reasons that could be, and she refused to dwell on her anxieties. It seemed that Qui-Gon scolded her enough about such behaviour that she'd started scolding herself, now wasn't that just great.

"Hey you-sa! Stoppa dere!"

"Hey-yo daddy, Captain Tarpals," their guide greeted the Gungan that had just ridden up to them, a nervous, but hopeful expression on his face. "Me-sa back!" he proclaimed, a little needlessly.

"Oh no again Jar-Jar," this Captain Tapos answered. "You-sa going to da Bosses. You-sa in big doo-doo dis time."

So, Jar-Jar was most likely the name of their guide. Nice to finally know. As they were escorted off to see 'the Bosses', Obi-Wan made soft, awed comments about the things she saw in Gunga City that she'd never seen before. Mostly for the sake of her recording device, but also because flattering your hosts is a good way to begin relations. Especially if you can flatter with honesty.


	2. Chapter 2

Patriarchal society, led by a collection of elders. That's what it looked like anyway. Obi-Wan was pretty sure none of the 'Bosses' were female. The Gungan race was one she was unfamiliar with, so she couldn't be completely sure. Still, they were humanoid, so some of the essential physiognomy was likely the same.

"A droid army is about to attack the Naboo," Qui-Gon stated plainly. "We must warn them."

Obi-Wan resisted the urge to roll her eyes skyward and implore the Force grant her Master greater use of his brain. He did this with the Jedi Council as well. He gave an ultimatum of what he wanted, rather than negotiating his way into the matter gently until they thought it was their idea to give him what he was after.

Many things Obi-Wan had learned from her Master. Negotiating, however, was something she'd had fairly well down pat from _before_ she convinced Qui-Gon to accept her as his Padawan. If she hadn't been good at negotiations then she'd be a member of the AgriCorps, rather than a Padawan of twenty-five.

"We-sa no like the Naboo," the central Boss said. Boss Nass, he'd been presented as. "The Naboo think they so smarty. They think their brains so big."

"Once the droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you," Qui-Gon pointed out evenly.

"Me-sa no think so. They not know of us-en," Boss Nass answered, his assurance of that clear in his posture.

Qui-Gon raised a hand from where it had been resting on the elbow of his other arm, and with a familiar gesture – one that anybody not familiar with would dismiss – he made his request.

"Then speed us on our way," Qui-Gon suggested, the Force behind his words to ensure his suggestion was taken.

"We-sa gonna speed yous away," Boss Nass agreed.

"We could use a transport?" Qui-Gon requested, making that same gesture again.

"We-sa give yous una bongo," Boss Nass decided, and behind them, Obi-Wan heard a soft sound of surprise. Yes, seeing someone acting on a Force Suggestion was often surprising to those who were not also caught up in it. "The speediest way to the Naboo tis going through the planet core," he declared, and the way he said 'planet core' made it clear it would not be a fun ride.

Not that going straight through the middle of any planet was ever a picnic.

"They-sa settin' you-sa up," Jar-Jar whispered to them, still thinking of the life-debt he owed to Qui-Gon. Likely also thinking of the possibility that he might be saved by the Jedi again.

"What will happen to Jar-Jar Binks?" Qui-Gon asked, not missing a beat. Then again, he was very in tune with the Living Force.

"His-en to be punished," Boss Nass answered with a wicked little smile on his very wide mouth.

"I saved his life," Qui-Gon stated plainly. "Which he tells me means he is my humble servant, at the demand of the gods."

Obi-Wan didn't ask her master what he was thinking. The Gungan was a local, and even guided by the Force, having someone who could help them navigate the core of the planet would be very useful. The Force did not, in general, guide the Jedi in the same way as a navigator could.

"Binks?" Boss Nass hissed. "You-sa have the life-play with this-en Hissen?"

"Uh-huh," Jar-Jar admitted with an agreeing nod.

"Bah!" Boss Nass declared, shaking his cheeks so that the sound he made was somehow amusing as well as final. "Be gone wit' him!" he bid.

Qui-Gon bowed to the Bosses, and from her place a foot behind and to the left, Obi-Wan mimicked the gesture, though her bow was deeper. They turned to see Jar-Jar's handcuffs being removed.

"Count me outta dis one," Jar-Jar complained as he rubbed his wrists. "Better dead here, than dead in the Core. Eeh gads! What-sa me-sa sayin'?!" he cried, striking the side of his own head before he followed after them.

Captain Tapos escorted them to the bongo that they would be taking through the planet core to reach the Naboo, and Obi-Wan cooed over it when she saw it.

"It's a beautiful craft," she complimented sincerely. Alright, so she might have been laying it on a little thick, but the bongo was a spectacular thing, even if it wasn't the largest craft. Somehow it was both organic and mechanised, and she happily hung on every word of the Gungan that instructed her in how to drive it.

Master Qui-Gon didn't care for learning such things, being more inclined to have a pilot do that work for him. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, never felt completely safe on any craft that she herself wasn't in control of, however well-qualified the other pilot might have been. She blamed Garen entirely for her dislike of travelling in any craft when not personally in the pilot's chair.

"You Gungans are spectacular," Obi-Wan praised when she was invited to take her place in the pilot's chair of the bongo. "I've never seen a craft like this before," as she reverently stroked the control station. "It's wonderful!"

She was fairly sure that the Gungan blushed at her praise, even as he also puffed out his chest in pride.

"Yah," he answered happily. "Us-en Gungans, we-sa got the top stuff the Hissen never seen! I like-a you-sa. You-sa make it through the planet core, this-a bongo is all yours."

Obi-Wan grinned like a child that had just received a bag of their favourite sweets, and stretched up to give the Gungan a quick peck on his cheek. "Thank you for showing me how to pilot the bongo," Obi-Wan said as Qui-Gon slipped into the back, and Jar-Jar fell into the navigator's seat beside her. "But I think it's time we left."

The Gungan nodded his head, a blush on his orange cheeks, and talked her through the last checks one more time with only the occasional stutter – and then they were leaving Gunga City behind them.

~oOo~

The Force proved to be a more useful guide through the planet core than Jar-Jar Binks, though the Gungan was quite good at pointing them _to_ the core. Through was still a whole different matter, and the Gungan spent a good deal of the journey exclaiming about the very large predators that were outside and aiming their teeth at the bongo.

Then the power went out suddenly.

"Just relax. We're not in trouble yet," Qui-Gon asserted.

"What 'yet'?!" Jar-Jar demanded. "Monsters out there, leakin' in here, all sinkin' an' no power? When you-sa thinkin' we-sa in trouble?!"

Generally speaking, Qui-Gon was fairly useless with machines. He could use the more basic sorts as needed; comm. links, data pads, that sort of thing. But he surprised Obi-Wan when he actually managed to bring back the power by opening a panel and sparking a couple of wires together. Then again, every Jedi had to build their _own_ lightsaber, so Qui-Gon probably knew more than he actually ever used. Probably.

Jar-Jar proceeded to scream in fright at the sight that greeted them when the lights came back on, and honestly, Obi-Wan barely stopped a startled yelp of her own from escaping. Oh, she'd _felt_ that there was a large life-force just outside of the bongo, but those were much more impressive teeth than she'd quite anticipated.

"Relax," Qui-Gon ordered the Gungan, a hand on his shoulder and the Force backing his word.

Jar-Jar past out in his seat.

"You overdid it," Obi-Wan scolded her Master. The Gungan might have fainted from the stress without Qui-Gon's interference, but telling him to relax when panic was a perfectly justified reaction? It really was a bit much. Her Master was a great Jedi, but like so many great Jedi, Obi-Wan was aware that he rather lacked in empathy, however much she loved him like a father, and he returned the sentiment. Sometimes, in the middle of doing something else, she paused to wonder how many people had been raised onto being functioning sociopaths by the Jedi Temple, when they could have been normal people otherwise. Obi-Wan was uncomfortable with the number of people she could list from the Jedi rolls who could potentially fit that profile.

This though was neither the time, nor the place, to be distracted by such thoughts. They had to get to Theed and the palace. Thankfully, reaching the Naboo capital didn't take long after a run-in with a second lot of native sea-monsters. Sea-monsters that were comparative in size to some of the larger starships.

Yes, Obi-Wan was very grateful when they reached Theed at last, surfaced, and tied the – very lovely but sadly now damaged – bongo up at a convenient dock space, and Obi-Wan smiled to herself as Jar-Jar commented on the prettiness of the city.

They'd barely taken five steps when they were met by a squad of droids with blasters, a squad which walked in formation around a group of frightened civilians that were being marched along in the middle.

"Halt," the foremost droid ordered as it brought its blaster into line with the two Jedi. Well, the gap between the two Jedi, but that just allowed the poor mechanical creation to swing the weapon either way should the Jedi not obey its orders.

Which of course they didn't. Qui-Gon sliced off the leading droid's arms and head with one sweep of his lightsaber, then cleaved its torso in two with another before he moved to attack the next droid to approach him with its blaster to the fore. Obi-Wan managed to decapitate two droids with one swing, and used the Force to send the remaining three flying into a nearby wall, where they shattered.

"Best to get hidden," Obi-Wan advised them with an apologetic smile when her Master just marched off, still intent on reaching the palace, then gave a quick bow to the group before she raced after him.

This sort of rescue was performed another three times before they reached the streets near to the palace, where they proceeded to go from marching to sneaking, until they finally, as they were crossing an over-street walkway, they spotted the young Naboo King, dressed in black robes with a head-dress of gold and feathers, being marched along with his entourage by another squad of droids.

The party was approaching the section of street that would pass below where the two Jedi (along with their Gungan companion) were hiding. They didn't stay in hiding for long. They dropped down through the open arches of the walkway to land before the party, and once again cut down the squad of droids.

Obi-Wan even got to use a split jump-kick when she realised she had landed effectively between two of the droids. She had enjoyed practising that move with Bant and Siri, but hadn't thought she'd ever get a chance to really properly use it in any kind of non-simulated battle.

"We should leave the street, your highness," Qui-Gon requested once all the droids had been violently decommissioned... and Jar-Jar had picked himself up from where he'd fallen when he tried to follow the two Jedi down from the over-walk.

Obi-Wan managed to refrain from rolling her eyes at the Gungan as the guards in one uniform and the personal servants in another all moved to collect the blasters that the droids would now no longer need. They were a few short to all go armed, but Obi-Wan still had two strapped to her person from when she'd raided the ship she'd come down to the planet on, and easily past them off to two of the orange-robed royal attendants who hadn't moved quite fast enough to claim blasters for themselves.

"We are ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor," Qui-Gon said by way of introduction once they were out of the open.

Obi-Wan turned her recording device on, just in case something relevant to a later report was discussed – highly likely, considering this was their first contact with the royal party.

"Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador," quipped an older man with a carefully trimmed white beard, many silver ringlets hanging from his head (despite the receding hairline) and a voluminous purple robe.

"The negotiations never took place," Qui-Gon corrected. "It is urgent that we make contact with the Republic."

"They've knocked out all our communications," stated the only man among those wearing the security uniform to have a different hat. His was actually a lot more hat- than helmet-like. Since he was also the one speaking up and standing at even level with the King and the man in the purple robe, it meant he was likely the chief of security.

Rather than asking if the communications towers could be fixed, Qui-Gon instead jumped straight to the idea of making that contact in person. "Do you have transport?" he asked.

"In the main hangar," was the answer, as well as an arm pointing in the direction they needed to go.

"By the way, I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Padawan Jedi, and that's my Master, Qui-Gon Jinn," Obi-Wan _properly_ introduced, though her voice was soft, as they ran for the hangar the security chief had indicated.

"King Amidala, Governor Sio Bibble, and the Head of Security, Captain Panaka," supplied one of the orange-robed attendants, gesturing to each figure. "I'm Padme," he added with a shy smile.

Obi-Wan returned it kindly, even as she kept her focus forward at the same time.

"Pleased to meet you," King Amidala called back to her, though he kept his voice to a low volume, just as his attendant and Obi-Wan both had. He was barely more than a pace ahead. "Though I would wish our meeting were not under such circumstances."

"Can't argue with that," Obi-Wan agreed under her breath, and checked her chronometer so that she could mutter the time for her record.

~oOo~

"There's too many of them," Captain Panaka declared, his voice restrained in volume but not the level of frustration and fear it conveyed.

Qui-Gon cut a glance at Obi-Wan, and she smirked back at her Master.

If there was one thing Qui-Gon Jinn knew of his Padawan, and he knew a _lot_ about her, it was that she had more 'hobbies' than most people would credit possible. The list included engineering of all varieties, model building, sewing, knitting, reading, cooking, philosophising and meditating (and not being able to give that as punishment for her occasional misbehaviours was deeply frustrating to him), causing his hair to turn grey before its time (yes, she really did claim that as one of her hobbies), and learning every set of lightsaber drills that was listed in the Archives.

Every. Single. Set.

Even the sets that were patchy records of the various ways the Sith had fought, long ago, though Obi-Wan didn't channel the Dark Side of the Force as she practised the styles – which she always did under the supervision of Masters Yoda or Windu, as doing so was something that had caused some concern to the Council. Obi-Wan generally forewent all emotion when she ignited her lightsaber, as though combat were a form of meditation, so there was little risk of her falling. On the other hand, it also meant she wouldn't ever be able to completely master the Vaapad style, which required the manipulation of the opponents emotions. Qui-Gon knew that currently his Padawan was working her way through the much more complete training holocron that had been left behind by an ancient Jedi Master (turn Sith, and then later Jedi again, the only one to ever come back from the Dark Side). He couldn't recall the name at the moment though.

About the only useful habit that Qui-Gon hadn't seen Obi-Wan do willingly and cheerfully was clean. She was tidy, but cleaning was as much a chore and punishment for her as meditating was for other Padawans. Qui-Gon thanked the Force for the day he'd discovered the dirty floors and freshers were the bane of his Padawan's existence, or he'd have no proper way to discipline her for letting herself be dragged along on whatever escapade her friends Siri and Quinlan had talked her into.

Back to the matter at hand. "That won't be a problem," the male Jedi replied with confidence. He knew that his Padawan would look at the number of droids beyond the door and consider the odds presented to them as in her favour, possibly not even a challenge. He certainly wouldn't call them insurmountable. Assured of this, he turned to the young King. "Your highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."

"And what would I be able to achieve in Coruscant that I could not by staying here?" the King questioned seriously, though it was also clearly at least partially a rhetorical question that denied any inclination towards leaving his people.

"You must plead our case before the Senate," Governor Bibble answered imploringly. "If you remain here, then the Viceroy will try and force you to sign their treaty. Our only hope is that the Senate will side with us. Senator Palpatine will need your help," he insisted.

The young King took a deep breath, clearly forcing himself to calm down. Admirable, for a fourteen-year-old boy. "Both options are dangerous," he said thoughtfully. "And not just for me," he added, casting an eye over his personal attendants in their orange robes.

"Naboo is peaceful, highness," the attendant Padme answered softly. "However well-trained we may be to face danger."

"If you are to leave, your highness," Qui-Gon said, acutely aware of how many chances they would get to make their escape – even if the odds were in favour of he and his apprentice when faced with a few droids. "It must be now, though I fear if you stay, the Trade Federation will try to destroy you."

"Then I will plead our case to the Senate," the King capitulated, and quickly took Governor Bibble by the shoulder. "Be careful, Governor," he bid, indicating that he expected the older man to remain behind. "And do what you can for our people until I return."

As the old man nodded, the two Jedi stepped into the gap and through the doors into the hangar, leading the way.

"Do not be eager for battle," Qui-Gon reminded Obi-Wan softly out of the corner of his mouth.

"I assure you Master, I detest it," Obi-Wan answered serenely.

"Then why are you smiling?" the Master demanded lowly.

"I'm thinking of having a bubble-bath when we get back to Coruscant. I'm about to be trapped on a ship with a large collection of _men_ , Master. A good portion of them teenagers," Obi-Wan answered, still perfectly serene.

Qui-Gon winced slightly, and that was all the apology that Obi-Wan would get from him for the situation they found themselves in.

"You just worry about getting the royal party onto their very shiny ship, Master," Obi-Wan advised with a hint of a smirk curling the corner of her smile. "I'll get the rest of the droids."

Qui-Gon sighed, but nodded in capitulation.

"We'll need to free those pilots," Captain Panaka said then as he drew even with them, his stolen blaster coming up as he moved towards the pilots he had indicated.

"My Padawan will deal with that," Qui-Gon assured the chief of security, waving the blaster down and the man back into line.

Obi-Wan broke away from the procession with a calm, purposeful stride that took her straight up to the droids surrounding the captured pilots. The split-kick had worked so well the last time, and the droids were close enough together this time, that it really deserved a repeat. Ten droids were cut down in half as many seconds, but the pilots were all still sitting on the ground with their arms curled around their knees.

"Go already!" Obi-Wan ordered them sharply as she moved off to cut down the rest of the droids that were in the hangar, peripherally aware of her Master activating his own lightsaber and slicing through the droids by the ship. None of the droids lasted all that long, and Obi-Wan rejoined her Master at the ship's ramp.

"That's everybody but us," Qui-Gon informed her.

"Age before beauty," Obi-Wan deferred, indicating for her Master to go up the ramp first, even as she raised her other hand to summon with the Force the blasters that the destroyed droids wouldn't be needing any more.

"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, his tone one of censure when he saw her floating the blasters around her as though they were her own personal moons when she came up the ramp.

"Done now," Obi-Wan said light-heartedly as the ramp closed up behind her and the ship began to rise.

Qui-Gon grumbled, but truly could not argue that point, and headed up to the cockpit.

"Um..." a familiar voice said hesitantly.

"For now Jar-Jar," Obi-Wan said, smiling at the unfortunate Gungan and waving for him to follow her. "Wait here," she instructed kindly when they reached the part of the ship where the droids were kept. "But please don't touch anything," she requested, and finally allowed her orbiting blasters to settle in a corner where no one would trip over them. "In fact, I dare say you deserve a nap by this point. It's been a very exciting day."

"Completely nutsy," Jar-Jar agreed, and flopped down to sit with his back against the elevator shaft. Naboo's royal starship was split-level. Most ships went for width, rather than height, if they wanted more space, but not this one.

Obi-Wan smiled to herself at Jar-Jar's antics, then took the elevator up and headed for the cockpit – where she was promptly reminded why she didn't like to be a passenger when travelling.

"There's the blockade," the pilot, Ric Olie, declared, as if they needed to be reminded of why they were in their current situation. A situation that was immediately worsened when the Trade Federation's command station opened fire on them. A siren started making its warning chimes, and the next thing out of the pilot's mouth only made everything worse. "The shield generator's been hit!"

The maintenance droids, astromechs, were deployed – and lost to enemy fire all together faster than any of them liked.

"Shields are gone," Olie complained when there was only one droid left clinging to the smooth outer shell of the ship. Then suddenly: "Power's back! That little droid did it! Deflector shields up at maximum," he declared, and they finally punched through past the blockade. It looked like they'd be able to make it after all.

"There's not enough power to get us to Coruscant," Olie informed them frankly, almost as though he could sense everybody's relief and felt the need to stifle it. "The hyper-drive is leaking."

"We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship," Qui-Gon pointed out, and with a gesture sent Obi-Wan to the navigator's chair. "Somewhere that the Trade Federation won't find us."

"Here Master," Obi-Wan offered after a moment of searching. "Tatooine is the closest that will give us those things."

"It is also small, generally out of the way, and poor," Qui-Gon noted of the planet that his Padawan had brought to his attention. "And with no presence of the Trade Federation there at all."

"How can you be sure?" Captain Panaka demanded from the other side of the cockpit.

"It's controlled by the Hutts," Qui-Gon replied calmly.

"You can't take his highness there!" Panaka objected.

The pilot looked willing to agree, though as he knew the state of the ship better than the captain, he held his own objection back.

"The Hutts are gangsters!" Panaka continued to rave. "If they discover him -!"

"It will be no different than if we landed on a system controlled by the Federation," Qui-Gon pointed out, his words measured and calm. Deliberately so, almost forcing calm on the captain at whom his words were directed. "Except that the Hutts aren't looking for him," he added. "Which gives us the advantage."

"It will be his highness' decision," Panaka said firmly, a compromise in word, but a concession in fact.


	3. Chapter 3

With the destination set, if still not discussed with the young King, Obi-Wan excused herself down to the droid bay to get ready for when they reached Tatooine. She had collected up a good fourteen blasters just before they'd left Naboo behind, but the blasters themselves weren't what she would call top-notch. Standardised pieces for standardised wielders.

Obi-Wan happily helped herself to the tools that were used for maintaining the astromech droids – the last of which was, at that moment, being presented to his highness – and began indulging in one of her many less-than-feminine hobbies: weapons engineering. Tinkering, her Master called it. Her friends called it "impressive as all get-out", even Bant, who had pursued the path of a Jedi Healer during her Padawan-ship to Master Tahl.

Obi-Wan had gotten the fourteen blasters down to ten-and-parts when the astromech of the hour and one of King Amidala's personal servants joined her in the droid bay, both of them carefully moving around the unconscious Jar-Jar Binks, though the teenager gave the sleeping Gungan a curious look.

"That's Jar-Jar," Obi-Wan supplied. "Master saved his life, though I'm led to believe it was by accident. Either way, we're stuck with him for now, due to the demands of his gods."

The teen looked up from Jar-Jar to Obi-Wan, and she recognised him as Padme. The only one of King Amidala's servants that seemed to speak at all.

"How can he sleep at a time like this?" Padme asked, and it seemed the question was equal parts incredulous and jealous.  
Obi-Wan smirked in answer, and her tone was that of a conspirator when she spoke. "I may have involved the Force in the matter," she admitted cheekily. "You got the job of cleaning the hero?" she asked, changing the subject as she looked from the teen to the droid.

The astromech unit bleeped and twittered a little, then swung its main body back and forth slightly on its supports.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Artoo-Deeto," she answered easily. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, and yes, I saw what you did. You were a very brave little droid, keeping going that way when all your friends were blasted away from right next to you."

The unit gave a sad little moan sound before releasing a few more bleeps.

Obi-Wan nodded solemnly and picked up a cloth and some cleaning agent, which she past over to Padme... who was staring at her.

"You... speak droid?" he asked hesitantly.

Obi-Wan laughed breathily, not much sound escaping though her amusement was clear. "I don't think anybody _speaks_ that language that isn't a droid themselves," she countered easily. "But I understand it. It's just another language, and a very easy one compared to some. The astromech communication codex does not, for example, have more than one word for things that don't really need it, nor does it have particularly difficult sentence structure," she explained.

Learning languages was one of those hobbies that fell under the category of 'giving her Master grey hair faster than he would like'. Generally because she collected most of that learning during misadventures with Siri, Quinlan _and_ Garen. Reeft and Bant were much better behaved about that sort of thing, though they teased the humans of their group for all being trouble-magnets.

Obi-Wan re-focused on the present and kicked a box over to the teen for him to sit on while he cleaned the R2 unit.

Padme sat on it with a surprising degree of grace, considering the height of the box had his knees up near his chest, and started cleaning the little droid. He did not, however, stop asking Obi-Wan questions.

"What are you doing?" he enquired.

"I'm modifying these blasters so that they'll work better," Obi-Wan answered easily. "I'll blend in better on Tatooine if I'm carrying blasters, rather than my lightsaber."

Padme blinked at that. "You're going to go out on Tatooine?" he asked. "I'd have thought that your Master would..."

Obi-Wan chuckled mirthlessly. "I'm sure Master Qui-Gon thinks he's going to be the one going out to get the new parts as well," she agreed amiably. "But Master Qui-Gon is used to negotiating with civilised people. I admit that I am too, but I'm _also_ used to getting the 'pretty girl with big blasters' discount for my friends when they need something for a personal project. Something that the Order can't or won't get for them, either because it would cost too much, or they'd have to make a back-room deal to get it in the first place."

"The 'pretty girl with big blasters' discount?" Padme repeated, a little stunned and a lot more curious.

Obi-Wan gave that breathy laugh again, her smile bright and amused. "Yet another way to tell you have yet to suffer the indignity all men must suffer through. That of your voice breaking," she commented easily.

Padme's entire face suddenly matched the red cowl of his orange attendant robes.

"We've got time until we reach Tatooine," Obi-Wan said, "and you will live long enough that your voice will break, I promise. You'll come to fully understand the power of a pretty girl with big blasters in time. Of course, if you proceed then to flirt badly with said pretty girl, you might not live much beyond that."

Padme's red face suddenly lost all colour. "I- I- I- _flirt_?!" he finally got out.

"Try," Obi-Wan offered. "You're not going to be fourteen forever. You'll be interested in having a relationship some day. Besides, flirting is fun," she added.

"I thought Jedi weren't supposed to, um, I mean..." Padme trailed off, flustered and flushed once more.

"Oh attachment isn't something that is encouraged," Obi-Wan agreed easily. "But flirting isn't attachment, or the expression 'flirting with danger' would never have come about. There's lots of different sorts of flirting. Playful, meaningless flirting. Flirting with friends as a joke. Flirting that is testing the waters for a possible relationship. Teasing too. Teasing is like flirting, in its own way."

R2 let forth a series of bleeps, tweets and a couple of whirring sounds.

Obi-Wan burst out laughing. Loud guffaws that came from her stomach, which she had wrapped an arm around while her other hand quickly slapped down ton the ground beside her to make sure she didn't fall over. Slowly, she caught her breath and forced her laughter back, and wiped the tears from her eyes that had come from laughing so hard.

"Padawan," Qui-Gon's stern voice came from behind and above her. "What has caused this outburst?"

Obi-Wan smiled up at the man who was Master and father to her. "Artoo," she answered simply, her smile widening into a grin. "He said 'Miss Jedi, you are highly attractive for your species. If I had the right attachments, I would be more than happy to offer to service you.'"

Padme went completely red and stopped cleaning the droid to stare at it.

Qui-Gon used his long legs to his advantage to march up to the little droid. A long finger was brought to bear, pointing at the unit. "You will not have any of your _attachments_ near my student," he warned.

R2 bleeped and whistled indignantly.

"What was that?" Qui-Gon questioned Obi-Wan darkly.

"'I will have you know the servicing part was a joke,'" Obi-Wan answered, doing her best to imitate the indignant tone of the little droid.

Qui-Gon relaxed, and Padme returned to the task of cleaning the burnt space-dust off the astromech.

"I apologise," Qui-Gon said to the little droid, though his entire bearing was still coiled as tight as a new spring. "Obi-Wan is my student, and like a daughter to me."

"Relax, _Dad_ ," Obi-Wan teased. "Your little girl's virtue is still _completely_ intact," she added with a roll of her eyes. Yeah, twenty-five and never-been-kissed. Friendly pecks on cheeks and tender brushes against brows didn't count. She'd even managed to escape being groped at when Siri and Quinlan dragged her out – Quinlan had once said she had an 'aura' that intimidated people, then muttered into his drink about how some people looked "too beautiful to touch, even if the desire to do so burned you up from the inside".

"Good," was all Qui-Gon said now, before he wordlessly excused himself off to another part of the ship – probably to meditate.

Obi-Wan shook her head fondly as she watched him go, gave Padme a smile, then turned back to the blasters she was tinkering with.

"So... how does a pretty girl like you become a Jedi?" Padme asked tentatively some five minutes later.

Obi-Wan looked up from her little makeshift work-station and smiled at the teen. "Not a bad start," she allowed. "A bit weak, but not bad. And I was brought to the Jedi Temple before I was even a full year old."

Padme frowned slightly in thought. "Is that normal?" he asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "No idea," she admitted. "Only the Creche Masters know what age children come in at, apart from the child him- or herself. Only the Creche Masters and Council Members even interact with the Younglings before they turn five."

"Oh," Padme said softly. "Should you even be telling me this? What I know of the Jedi Order is that they're very secretive."

Obi-Wan chuckled, and shook her head easily. "It's not that the Order is secretive," she corrected with a smile. "It's that, unless they have a Force-sensitive child, no one ever asks."

R2 chimed in then with a question of his own.

"Force sensitivity is something that we are able to measure in a being's blood," Obi-Wan answered, her tone slightly apologetic. "The Order does have a few droids in its cloisters, but none of them are actually Jedi. Sorry Artoo."

~oOo~

"There it is," pilot Olie said as a planet came into view from the cockpit. "Tatooine."

Obi-Wan ran a quick surface scan of the planet from her chair beside him. "There's a settlement on the day-side," she offered, bringing its location up on the screen for Ric. "Large enough that they should have merchants of some kind."

"Land near the outskirts," Qui-Gon recommended softly as he hovered over their shoulders. "We don't want to attract attention."

That was advice that Ric Olie abided by without question, and the two Jedi went their separate ways to prepare their disguises for going out into the settlement. Obi-Wan was faster about it, as she only had to remove a few layers. That her breeches were close-fitting, her boots up to her knees, and her belt loose on her hips without the many layers of tunic all fed into the image she used as her disguise for such excursions. The top she wore beneath her tunics was form-fitting and skimpy, at least by comparison. It showed off her cleavage, left her arms bare, and if she stretched her arms up then the top rose to expose a tantalising sliver of well-toned mid-section.

Her Padawan braid she tucked away so that it was hidden beneath other braids and loose falls that she had pulled up into a high tail, rather than letting it hang down freely as she usually did.

The final touch was to pile on three of the blasters that she had modified, check the pockets on her belt for the few little trinkets she always carried for in the event of an emergency, and cover her exposed skin with a cream that would prevent her burning under the desert planet's two suns.

While her Master was still looking for an appropriate disguise among the clothing that was kept aboard the ship, Obi-Wan went to check the engines and see what the damage was.

She'd just completed her analysis when Qui-Gon emerged from the elevator shaft, still adjusting to his disguise. A disguise which made him look vaguely like a farmer, except that no farmer would have hair as fine as his – and it was _still_ perfect, damn the man.

"What _do_ you look like?" Qui-Gon demanded, shocked, when he laid eyes on her figure.

"I look like someone who gets what she wants," Obi-Wan answered easily. "As opposed to someone who looks like they don't know how to hold onto their money, like you do Master. Besides, I think that King Amidala will listen to you more than me, so it would make sense that you stay behind to watch over him."

Qui-Gon frowned deeply at that. "I suppose, in this matter, we might let his highness decide which of us should go," he suggested. He recognised that his Padawan had made several good points, but he didn't want her to go out to the space port. He knew such places were generally unpleasant, and he suspected that such a place on this planet would be worse than the back alleys of Coruscant.

For the first time since boarding the ship, Obi-Wan followed her master into King Amidala's throne room aboard the ship, and the question of who would go to retrieve the parts the ship needed was aired.

"I am inclined to agree with your Padawan in this, Master Jedi," King Amidala said at last, and a hint of a smile tugged at his mouth. "A local farmer doesn't need parts of a Nubian ship," he pointed out. "I wish to send one of my attendants with Mistress Kenobi though," he added. "I am curious about this planet."

Obi-Wan bowed to the King, low, but not so low that she was flashing her cleavage. "I'll make a last check of what we'll need while your attendant gets changed to accompany me," she offered. "I suggest neutral colours," she advised.

The young King nodded slightly under his head-dress, dismissing the two Jedi.

"Promise me you will be careful, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon implored softly as they walked together back to the engine room. "And that you won't do anything rash."

Obi-Wan rolled her eyes fondly at her mentor. "Now who's centring on their anxieties?" she teased fondly. "Relax Master. There's a darkness coming, but I can feel that I am a secondary target. You will be in more danger here, at the ship, than I will be in the space port."

Qui-Gon sighed in frustration, but capitulated. Taking Obi-Wan gently by her shoulders, he turned her to face him and placed a tender, fatherly kiss on her brow.

Obi-Wan made a complete list of all the repairs that needed to be done on a data pad, as well as loading onto it a holo of the ship as a whole – in case it turned out to be cheaper to just trade it for an entirely new ship. She checked her chronometer and made a recording of the latest events and plans. She'd just shut it off when Padme stepped into the engine room dressed in tight grey trousers and a loose grey shirt, the collar of which was close to the neck except at exactly centre front, where it split down straight to the middle of his chest. Brown leather belt and boots was the rest of it.

"I'm ready to accompany you, Mistress Kenobi," Padme stated.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at the teen. "Not yet," she corrected, and grabbed up the bag she'd piled all the extra, unmodified blasters into, which had been sitting against the wall. She fished out two of the weapons. "Strap those onto your hips," she ordered.

Padme did so quickly.

"Alright," Obi-Wan said, satisfied. "Now we just have to grab Jar-Jar, and we can go."

"Jar-Jar?" Qui-Gon queried.

"My hearin' me-sa name bein' called," the Gungan responded, poking his head around the doorway.

Obi-Wan thrust the bag of extra blasters at the orange-skinned humanoid. "You get to carry the bag," she informed him with a smile. "Smile Jar-Jar, you'll be the first Gungan to ever see a whole new planet."

Jar-Jar moaned sadly, but took the bag that was thrust out to him and slung it over his shoulder obediently.

"This sun doin' murder to me-sa skin," he complained not even twenty yards from the ship.

"I'll give you something to put on your skin when we get back," Obi-Wan promised absently before she turned her attention to Padme. "Do you understand your role while we're out here?" she asked him. "You're the voice of the King, but you've also got to follow my lead out here. You're best advised to not talk unless asked a question directly. You'll call me 'Mistress' and nothing else, and whatever I say or do, don't react visibly if you can help it. If you have questions, ask them when no one else will hear you. Same rules for you Jar-Jar, and don't touch anything not given to you."

"Yes... Mistress," Padme answered tentatively while Jar-Jar just nodded silently. "What sort of life is it out here?" he asked weakly as the settlement came into view.

"There are moisture farms, indigenous nomadic tribes, scavengers," Obi-Wan listed off. "Lots of scavengers, and scattered space ports like this one. Despite the concentration of population in places like this, it is still a haven, a bolt-hole, for those who don't want to be found."

"Like us," Padme observed softly.

"Don't let that attitude show," Obi-Wan warned. They'd just crossed the invisible line between desert and settlement, and there were buildings around them now. Obi-Wan had a sharp eye out for a place where she could do business.

There were places in the lower reaches of Coruscant, places that she'd ventured into when Bant or Reeft needed some little gizmo or gadget that just wasn't available to them through official channels, places that didn't accept Republic Credits. There were two currencies down there. One was wares – items could be traded for items, equal value always a matter of haggling. The other was gambling. If a barter couldn't be settled on, then the dare of the dice would give someone the advantage of walking away with everything – and the odds of chance meant that both parties were often quite willing to make the risk. If the dice weren't in their favour this time, then they just as likely would be next time.

Obi-Wan found what she was looking for before too long.

" _H'chu apenkee_ ," Obi-Wan greeted the Rodian who was sitting behind the counter in Huttese.

" _Da chuda_ ," the Rodian replied in the same language as he set aside the weapon he was cleaning to look up. " _Muni_ ," he added with what past for a smile on one of his race.

Obi-Wan scoffed, though there was an amused curl to her mouth. " _Peedunky_ ," she said without heat. "I've got _shag bukee sweets patogga_ for that," she said with a vague gesture in Padme's direction.

The boy didn't react, which was good. It might have meant he had no idea what they were saying though.

"I'm here to sell," Obi-Wan continued. "Jar-Jar, the bag."

"Mistress," Jar-Jar answered softly as he did his best to hide behind young Padme at the same time as coming forward to set the bag on the counter between Obi-Wan and the Rodian.

Obi-Wan opened the bag, and allowed the Rodian to peer in.

" _Dwana_?" he asked eagerly.

"It's not like I need them," Obi-Wan pointed out, as she drew one of the modified blasters from its place at her hip. "Not with this. But there's always call for cash," she explained.

The Rodian went to pick up one of the blasters to examine more closely, halting only a short way from touching. A look past between the two of them, the Rodian clearly asking permission, since Obi-Wan had a blaster in her hand already.

She inclined her head slightly in permission.

" _Yuna puna_ ," the Rodian praised as he looked the weapon over.

"I've got the five in there, plus the two _sweets patogga_ doesn't really need," Obi-Wan stated plainly, with another gesture to Padme, drawing the Rodian's attention to where Padme had the two blasters at his sides.

Then the haggling began. It was an art form that few appreciated. "I cannot sell them for that much" was parried by "you can because it is quality". "There isn't the demand" was laughed at and countered by "there is always more demand than supply in your business". "If you want that much, you'd better throw in the boy's two as well" was met with "they'll cost you extra". Finally there was a venture on the guns Obi-Wan carried strapped to her own person, she demanded he double the price he'd been asking a second ago without batting an eyelash.

The Rodian offered a gamble.

Obi-Wan pulled out her dice, and once the Rodian was satisfied they weren't loaded, the terms were given. If she won, he'd give her the full price-per-blaster she was asking for, but take only half the weapons, which would leave her to sell the rest to one of his competitors if she wanted to. If he won, she'd hand over all the non-modified weapons for _his_ initial offer.

Obi-Wan rolled the dice, and they came up in her favour.

They always did. But that was thanks to the Force, rather than chance. Not that she let on or was overt about it. She'd been doing deals like this one for years. She knew how to make Force Manipulation impossible to detect in this. Hand motions weren't really necessary to guide the Force to a Jedi's will. Extending a hand in a Force Push was a mental handicap that many Jedi had given themselves, though the handicap was sometimes useful. They didn't use their hands when learning to float rocks and such under Master Yoda though.

Obi-Wan just extended the logic wherever she could find use for it. Yoda had been equal parts cross with her and amused when he found out about it, but he hadn't done anything beyond giving her a long look that she still had no idea what it meant. She suspected it has something to do with him actually being the only person able to tell what she was doing.

"That was... incredible to watch," Padme admitted with quiet awe as they left the Rodian behind, Jar-Jar carrying the last unmodified blaster at his own hip now, empty bag slung across his back once more, as Obi-Wan tucked the money they'd made into one of the pouches on her belt.

"Possibly still not quite enough for the parts we need though," Obi-Wan answered softly. "Not unless I can make a similar deal," she added, and headed towards the shop of a parts dealer. It might not be enough, but at the same time, it might be just enough, and there was only one way to find out.

~oOo~

Huttese:

 **H'chu apenkee** 'Greetings.'

 **Da chuda!** 'Greetings!' (literally 'What is it?')

 **Muni** 'Lover'

 **Peedunky** 'Punk'

 **Shag** 'Slave'

 **Bukee** 'Boy'

 **Sweets patogga** 'Sweetie pie'

 **Dwana** 'To sell'

 **Yuna puna** 'First class'


	4. Chapter 4

" _Gooddé da lodia_ ," a Toydarian greeted, flapping his leathery little wings to pull himself out from behind his shop counter. The expression on his face as pleasant and friendly as he could make it. He was a a businessman after all, and he always welcomed customers. Unless, of course, they couldn't pay. " _Hi chuba da naga_?" he asked.

" _Mi bosco de -_ " Obi-Wan started, only to stop and grab Jar-Jar's wrist before he could pick up the part he'd been looking at curiously. "What did I say before?" she demanded coolly.

"Sorry Mistress," Jar-Jar answered, cowed by the firm grip on his wrist and the warning look in her steely blue eyes.

"It's all _chizk_ anyway," Obi-Wan grumbled as she rolled an assessing gaze around the shop, before setting her sights back on the Toydarian. "But out here even _chizk_ has some value," she allowed.

" _Cheespa bo coopa, cheeka_ ," the Toydarian warned, his pleasant expression fading into an unhappy scowl.

"I'm no _beeogola nechaska_ , Toydarian," Obi-Wan said firmly. "And I'm quite sure no one would miss a bit of _kung_ like you," she added, letting her hand rest very deliberately on one of the blasters at her hips. "I don't see the point of killing if there's no profit involved," she admitted freely, "but I haven't decided yet if having a wanted poster on this _karking poodoo_ of a planet would impact my work all that much."

The Toydarian backed up, the friendly smile back on his face, and his tone was a little desperate as he brought his hands up in a calming gesture.

"Now now, no need for that," he assured her hastily. "I'm sure I got just what you need out back. I'll give you a good price, _Kwee-Kunee Murishani_!" he insisted.

Obi-Wan smiled a smile that was both sweet and gave a hint of her canine teeth looking pointier than usual. "Smart," she said in soft approval.

" _Peedunkee_!" the Toydarian yelled out towards the back. " _Hay lapa no ya_!"

An urchin obediently came running into the shop from where he'd no doubt been working out the back. His grey clothes were tatty and worn, his dirty hair had been bleached by Tatooine's two suns, and his skin had a particular shade to it that lent credence to the idea that the kid didn't even know what a bath was, let alone ever used one. He still had all his puppy fat around his cheeks at least, though he was undoubtedly skinny beneath his loose rags, and his nose was button-ish, turned up at the world by genetics if not position his in life.

" _Kava che copah_?" Obi-Wan asked with a casually interested but clear Look at the little boy and a falsely callous tone to her voice. She could feel the untapped Force potential of the child. He was too old to be accepted for regular training at the Temple, but she had a feeling about the boy. One she wasn't sure about but was certain required investigation.

"He's not for sale, if you're just looking to drop your boy for a younger model," the Toydarian answered with a vaguely protective sneer.

Obi-Wan scoffed. "I only just got _mah bukee_ _sweets patogga_ properly trained. I'm not about to waste all that effort just to pick up a _peedunkee_ I don't know from a _chik youngee_ ," she countered with a hint of derision. "But you clearly trust him out of your sight with your wares," she pointed out reasonably.

"I do at that," the Toydarian agreed. "Let me take you out back while we discuss business," he offered. "Watch the shop," he instructed the boy.

"I _will_ know if either of you touch anything," Obi-Wan warned both Padme and Jar-Jar, though the warning was more for the Gungan than the human teen.

~oOo~

Huttese:

 **Gooddé da lodia!** 'Good day to you!'

 **Hi chuba da naga?** 'What do you want?'

 **Mi bosco de…** 'I'm looking for…'

 **Chizk** 'Junk'

 **Cheespa bo coopa** 'better watch out'

 **Cheeka** 'Woman'

 **Beeogola Nechaska** 'Stupid little princess'

 **Kung** 'Scum'

 **Karking** 'derogatory modifier'

 **Poodoo** 'Crap', usually bowdlerized where appropriate as 'fodder'

 **Kwee-Kunee** 'Queen'

 **Murishani** 'Bounty hunter'

 **Peedunkee** 'Boy'

 **Hay lapa no ya!** 'Come out of there!'

 **Kava che copah?** 'How much for that item?'

 **Mah bukee** 'My boy'

 **Chik youngee** 'Dancing girl'

~oOo~

"Is she always like that?" the little boy asked.

"Mistress is... complicated," Padme answered delicately. In all honesty, he didn't know Obi-Wan even approaching well enough to be able to answer that question properly. She had been very nice when they were on the ship before though, and Padme was certain that she hadn't actually said anything cruel in all that strange language that he hadn't understood.

Padme spoke more than a couple of languages, but it seemed that the one that was prominent on this planet wasn't one that he'd familiarised himself with enough to really understand. Some of Obi-Wan's tone had gotten the general idea across, but that was no real substitute for knowing what was being said.

Padme wanted to change the subject, but Obi-Wan had warned him not to speak unless he was answering a question directly, or unless they were somewhere private that he could ask her questions without them being overheard.

"How did you wind up with her for an owner?" the child asked.

Padme blinked, the only thing that stopped his eyes from popping out of his head, he was sure. Did the kid really just ask him that? Yes, yes he had. What gave the boy the idea that Obi-Wan _owned_ him? It would have to have been something that Obi-Wan said, or possibly even just that he'd called her 'Mistress'.

Padme decided to stick with something that could be qualified as a version of the truth. It would be easier to remember that way.

"I was chosen for her by a King," he answered at last. "Mistress saved his life."

"Is she a good mistress?" the child asked.

Padme thought about that. Thought about the little interaction he'd had with the female Jedi. "She has her moments," he offered at last. "But I've never met anybody like Mistress before," he admitted.

"She-sa ca-wazy!" Jar-Jar declared firmly.

"I heard that Jar-Jar!" Obi-Wan's voice echoed back to them from the rear of the shop.

"In a good way," Jar-Jar added hastily, head whipped around to stare out the back of the shop before he turned back to the boy and Padme. "She stare down the mouth of a colo fish an' not even blinkin'," he offered as an evidence to his claim.

"What's a colo fish?" the boy asked, confused and curious.

"It has teeth as big as Jar-Jar," Padme supplied, awed by this little tale. The Gungan didn't have enough deception in his whole body to tell a lie like that, which meant it was the truth. Padme certainly hadn't known _that_ about the female Jedi. "Some twice as big," he added.

Out the back, Obi-Wan's haggling with the Toydarian had been reduced to the roll of the dice, just like her deal with the Rodian earlier. The bet was a bit dearer this time though. As well as the parts they needed to fix the ship, Obi-Wan had talked the Toydarian into including the boy – _and_ his mother – into the deal. Normally, he would object that what she was offering wasn't worth what she was demanding, but the Toydarian was acutely aware that his own life was on the line, and he'd rather like to live a bit longer.

If Obi-Wan lost the roll, then she'd have to give the grizzled little alien all the money from the weapon sales _and_ Jar-Jar. She'd persuaded the Toydarian that the Gungan would bring him more money if he entered the foolish creature into the entertainment circuit, and that her human slave was trained very specifically to _only_ answer to _her_ now.

On the other hand, if she won the dice roll, she'd still have enough money left over from the transaction to buy the needed fuel and be able to go and buy a drink at the cantina while all four of 'her slaves' got the job of hauling the parts back to the ship, but the Toydarian would have a couple of the unmodified blasters to make up the price – leaving Padme with only one at his side, and Jar-Jar completely unarmed.

The Toydarian tested her dice, just as the Rodian had, to make sure they weren't loaded, and rolled them across the dirt.

Obi-Wan smirked. She was going to have some female company on that ship at last, and she didn't care if her Master kicked her up the behind for it. She had a feeling that as soon as he met that little boy with all that unrealised potential he'd forgive her.

"Eh, you win," the Toydarian recognised, a little unhappily, but it had been (to his knowledge) a fair roll of the dice, so he couldn't begrudge it unless he wanted to take the matter before the Hutts, and he knew they'd just test the dice and say he shouldn't make bets he wasn't willing to follow through on. Besides, to his knowledge there was absolutely nothing stopping the dangerous woman from blasting his head off and just taking what she wanted – whether she'd won the dice roll or not.

" _Smeeleeya whao toupee upee_ ," Obi-Wan replied, and counted out the coin she owed him, completely satisfied with the transaction if only because her hands no longer needed to hover near her blasters any more.

The Toydarian grunted and went to order his droids to get the parts Obi-Wan had bargained for, while Obi-Wan herself went to tell the child of his new status and collect the blasters she'd just 'lost' in the bet.

"I want you to go get your mother, whatever you and she call your own, and then go with Jar-Jar to our ship with the parts I just bought, _mah bukee_ ," she ordered the boy, a gentle hand on his head once she'd stripped Jar-Jar of his blaster, and Padme of one of his.

" _Ma lorda_?" the child asked, unsure.

" _Uth laynuma_ ," Obi-Wan agreed. "And we're getting off this rock as soon as we get the ship fixed. Tell your friends they can all explore a _real_ starship if they'll help."

"Yipee! _Bargon yanah coto da eetha_!" the child cheered and ran off to fetch his mother.

"Mistress?" Padme asked, his voice soft with confusion, his question tentative, unsure, and so not totally given voice.

"Don't tell me you're okay with leaving the kid here any more than I am," Obi-Wan answered out of the corner of her mouth, her voice a low warning to not ask any more questions about that, at least for now.

Padme bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement, since he didn't really know what he could really say to that.

"Jar-Jar, I want you to wait here for the boy to come back," Obi-Wan ordered, and slapped her data pad against the Gungan's chest. "Make him check that everything on that list is in the pile of junk the Toydaran gives us."

"Where you-sa goin'?" the Gungan asked, as his hands automatically wrapped around the object thrust at his person.

"To get a drink," Obi-Wan answered, then slid her blue eyes across to Padme. "And to expand this one's an education," she added.

~oOo~

Huttese:

 **Smeeleeya whao toupee upee.** 'Smile when you say that.'

 **Ma lorda** 'My lord' (Lorda also means 'boss' and 'master')

 **Uth laynuma.** 'That's the idea.'

 **Bargon yanah coto da eetha.** 'You're the best.'

~oOo~

"Jawa juice," Obi-Wan ordered succinctly as she past by the bar of the cantina on her way to a private booth. Before she'd even completed the action of sitting down on her chosen seat, she pulled Padme down to sit on her lap. "This way, you can mutter your questions into my ear, and I can answer them back into yours, and no one will look twice," she explained softly to the young boy before he could form a protest of any kind.

"It still _feels_ inappropriate," Padme muttered back.

"It should," Obi-Wan agreed. "I've got ten years on you. It won't feel _appropriate_ until you're out of your teens at least. Even then, I'll still be a Jedi," she pointed out.

"And Jedi can't have attachments," Padme recalled.

Obi-Wan shrugged carelessly. "The Green Jedi on Corellia do, much to the frustration of the Council, but they make it work, so no one can really get away with saying anything for long without looking like idiots. Master Mundi has five wives due to the needs of his race and society, though any time he's asked about it he says it difficult balancing between caring about them all and not getting attached," she replied. "But in general, yes, attachment is strongly discouraged among us more common Jedi."

A young, scarred, orange-skinned Twi'lek girl delivered Obi-Wan's Jawa juice then, and would have quickly moved on to deliver a plate of food to another booth except that Obi-Wan gently grabbed her wrist.

"Girl, this one is yours. Hide it away," she said firmly, and slipped one of her small coins into the girl's hand before she released her to go on her way.

"Thank you," the girl whispered, and shoved the coin into her sock as she walked away.

Obi-Wan reached across the teenager she was holding in her lap to pick up the glass, and welcomed the bitter, alcoholic burn of the cold drink in this heat – heat which was dry and gritty outside, but inside the cantina it was muggy with the sweat of many bodies in close proximity.

"What's a Jawa?" Padme asked, watching the cup.

"One of the native tribes of Tatooine that fall under the category of 'scavengers'," Obi-Wan answered.

"That isn't made from Jawas, is it?" Padme asked, wide-eyed and horrified by the very idea.

"No, and you can't have any either," Obi-Wan said with a hint of a smirk as she set her glass back on the table. "But tell me, is Padme a common name on Naboo?" she asked.

"I'm named after a great-aunt, I think," Padme admitted a little ruefully. "It's a gender-neutral name, but not terribly popular with either. Why?"

"Because in the mission request that Chancellor Valorum gave to the Jedi Council, the one to mediate and force a settlement between the Trade Federation and Naboo, it listed _King Padme Amidala_ as the person we were to contact on Naboo," Obi-Wan whispered in the teenager's ear, and felt the teen go completely rigid in her lap.

Not that he'd exactly been boneless before.

"I don't suppose you'd care to talk about that?" she murmured gently.

"You suppose right," Padme answered shortly.

Obi-Wan nodded slightly, and took the reply as the confirmation it inadvertently was. "Would you like to learn some of the Huttese I used today?" she offered, drawing the conversation to safer topics, such as educating the young King of Naboo (out of his robes of office though he may be) about the planet and its inhabitants.

"Please," Padme requested eagerly.

Before Obi-Wan could actually begin the lesson though, her comm. link gave a chirp that insisted she answer it.

"Yes?" she asked.

" _Obi-Wan, there's a sandstorm coming up on the horizon,_ " Qui-Gon's voice announced. " _And Captain Panaka wants you to explain why one little boy says that he and his mother are coming with us, though the King and his attendants are all quite entertained by him and the other children._ Please _get back before the sand storm hits_ ," he elder Jedi requested.

"On our way," Obi-Wan promised, then slammed back the rest of her Jawa juice in one gulp and urged Padme off her lap. She tossed the coin for the drink to the barkeep and headed for the exit. Fortunately, the cantina was on the outskirts of the space port in the same direction as the ship, so they didn't have as far to go as they would have if they'd still been back at the junk shop. They'd still have to go quickly though.

The ship had just come into sight when the very front of the sandstorm reached them. It half blinded the two of them, and the force of the wind threatened to push them right off their feet, but with an arm up to shield their faces and deliberate, slow steps, they eventually made it to the ramp of the ship. Qui-Gon was waiting for them, and incredibly relieved to see his Padawan returned, safe and sound.

"Trust," Obi-Wan grunted as her Master folded her into his arms and held her tightly to him. "I'm really getting a sense of just how much you trust me to take care of myself. Dad."

"Why didn't you come straight back?" Qui-Gon demanded, letting her out of his embrace so that he could hold her by the shoulders at length from himself and look her in the eye.

"Because I still had some of the local coin, and I wanted a Jawa juice," Obi-Wan answered freely, not at all caring that her Master didn't like it when she drank. It wasn't like she ever drank a lot. One glass of Jawa juice was enough for her at a time, generally speaking. Siri and Quinlan often had drinking contests when they went out, and Bant had been banned from challenging them because she never lost. "Besides, the King's attendant hadn't seen all that much of the place yet, and he was sent because the King wanted to know more about the planet."

Qui-Gon very nearly growled at her for that.

"Go," he said instead. "Wash the sand off and get dressed. You have some explaining to do when you're presentable though," he warned, "and not just to me."

"Yes Master," Obi-Wan deferred, then took one last thing out of her pocket. "That's the control for the transmitters in the two slaves I sent back here," she said as she pressed it into one of her Master's lage hands. "Wouldn't want them to blow up on us."

Qui-Gon sighed as he turned the device over in his hands. "That boy is quite the find," he admitted softly.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "He's not Jedi material," she said as she began to walk past her Master towards the refresher, "but I'll wager he could be the best pilot in the galaxy, given the chance, if the way his old master talked about him is anything to go by. Definitely not a Jedi though."

"Why do you say he isn't Jedi material, my Padawan?" the Master asked, confused.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "He's too old," she answered simply, "and you know it. The Council won't allow him to be trained in the Jedi ways, no matter how much he overflows with untrained and untapped Force Potential. Besides, he was raised to this age by a loving mother, and as a slave at that. He'd rebel against the strictures of the Order before too long," she pointed out, then with a last wave she excused herself from her Master to go get cleaned up.

Qui-Gon heaved a sad sigh as he watched his student go, hips swaying with their adornment of blasters, and the skin of her shoulders slightly more pink than it was before she left the ship in the morning. A shifting shape off to his side reminded the Master Jedi that the King's attendant was still standing there.

"When you grow up and become interested in women," Qui-Gon said to the boy, "remember that they are always right," he advised. "Or at least, they will be right more often than you will be, and Obi-Wan has the Force on her side as well as the usual 'female intuition' that those without the Force frequently claim to possess."

Padme bit down on a chuckle as he recalled his mother and his older sister both displaying that famed 'female intuition'. To be Force-sensitive on top of that? That was a slightly intimidating thought – and a humorous one, when he thought of that intuition making someone else's life harder, rather than his own.

Captain Panaka jogged up to them from another part of the ship. "We're receiving a transmission from home," he informed the Jedi and the teenager both.

The group hurried to the ship's throne room to view the message. It was not good news.


	5. Chapter 5

Obi-Wan found that the mother of the little boy she'd met at the Toydarian's junk shop was marvelling at the private compartment that Obi-Wan had been given as a concession to the only female aboard. It was very likely the fanciest place the woman had ever been offered to lay her head. In all her marvelling at the room though, the woman still noticed when Obi-Wan joined her there.

"You must be the woman my son said had bought us from Watto," the woman said.

"Well, technically," Obi-Wan agreed with a nod. "My master has the device that will deactivate your transmitters now," she offered.

The woman blinked. "So... you are a Jedi?" she asked, and Obi-Wan saw the older woman's gaze dart over to where Obi-Wan had left her lightsaber and outer-robes.

Obi-Wan smiled. "The bounty hunter disguise is really very useful when making deals with people like your previous owner," she pointed out lightly. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. Pleased to meet you."  
"Shmi Skywalker," the woman offered in return. "Will... will my son become a Jedi?" she asked.

"I honestly doubt it," Obi-Wan answered. "And for his sake, I'd actually hope not. The life of a Jedi is actually a lot harder than the life of a slave in some of its aspects. A slave, at least, is still a person, and can be freed to live a normal life someday," she explained softly. "A Jedi is a Jedi from infancy until death."

Shmi nodded slowly, understanding this. "What will become of us then?" she asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "Your previous owner... Watto? He was doing his best to drive up the price of your son by talking up his skills as a pilot. If even half of what he said is true, then I'm sure he'll do well in any piloting school in the galaxy," she suggested, and gave a smirk. "The Jedi Order does sponsor children into other professions if they are Force-sensitive but come to the Temple too late to be accepted for training. It hasn't happened for a long time, but there is precedent. I'd suggest the Corellian Academy," she added. "They really are the best, and I think you'd like it on Corellia too."

Shmi Skywalker smiled in gratitude to the younger woman.

"He wants to go back for his pod racer," she said. "The droid he was building helped to carry a few of his other projects when we came though," she admitted a little ruefully. "The... King? He was most generous in letting Ani and I store our possessions in the main hold."

"Well, we've only got one astromech droid with us now," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. "We've probably got enough space in the droid bay. I'm sure the King will allow it if we ask nicely. We can make the trip for the rest of your belongings after the storm passes. Wait, the boy's name is Annie?"

"Anakin," Shmi said, blushing a little. "And his young friend Kitster helped. Leant us his barrow and his Eopies in exchange for getting to see a real starship. How did you get a name like Obi-Wan Kenobi though?" she asked curiously.

"I don't remember my family," Obi-Wan admitted frankly. "But I've been to Stewjon, my home world, on a mission once, and I've researched some of the customs. It's traditional that the first-born child will take a name that includes a selected portion of the name of their family, as well as the traditional designation for 'first-born' in the old language of Stewjon. So, Obi-Wan Kenobi. As the first child of my family, I'd have been named the same if I was born a boy or a girl. Either way, I was one that was sent to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant within the first year of my life. I really only know those details about my home world and when I was brought to the Temple because, having past the age of twenty, I was granted access to those particulars in my file, though there's some talk that we shouldn't be told until even later than that, those of us our origins can be debated on."

Shmi blinked at that. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"For what?" Obi-Wan asked, genuinely surprised. "I know no other life than the one I've lived, and for all its strictures and harshnesses, I cannot imagine – and do not want – any other. But I hope you will excuse me. I wish to wash off the grime of pretending to be a bounty hunter, and to get the sand out from the uncomfortable places."

Shmi laughed at that, the tension of the conversation well and truly broken. "When you have lived on Tatooine as long as I have, Mistress Kenobi, you get used to the sand being in those places, and it feels strange to not have it any more," she said with a smile.

Obi-Wan smiled back at the old woman. "And the heat too, I dare say. You and your son will find space is much colder," she quipped as she removed her weapons, belt, and boots, before she ducked into the refresher.

Shmi left to the dining space, where the children had been corralled aboard ship until the storm past, as their homes were all on the other side of the space port. She'd only left them at all because she needed to use the refresher, and had been distracted when leaving it by the luxury around her, and then the conversation with the female Jedi.

~oOo~

Clean of sand and dressed in her robes once more, with her lightsaber at her side where it belonged, Obi-Wan sighed as she brushed out her hair. All the tiny braids that had been through it, each one created as the whim took her and she had the spare time (and a spare ties) to weave it, had been unbound while she washed. Even her Padawan braid had been let loose, the beads set in a tray so that they would not be dropped and lost.

Obi-Wan carefully re-wove her Padawan braid now, with her hair brushed out and free of tangles, for now. The light wave of her strawberry blonde hair, as well as how fine it was, meant that it rarely stayed tangle-free for very long. For now though, it would just have to hang freely, as she didn't have the time to secure the rest of it after she'd re-braided the longer section that was the significant braid, and she didn't care to go before everybody with her hair hastily tied up in a messy tail that she'd have to make as she walked if she wanted to tie her hair back at all.

The last thing she did before she entered the throne room was note the date and time on her chronometer into her recording device, leaving it on for the meeting she was about to have with the Naboo King.

" _You_ must _contact me_!" Governor Sio Bibble's hologram requested desperately just as Obi-Wan entered the ship's throne room, at which point the message ended.

"It's a trick," Qui-Gon said simply, his tone apologetic as he considered the device which had shown them the message sent from Naboo. "Bait, to establish a connection trace."

"I don't think it's a lie," Captain Panaka countered. "But I also don't think we can risk contacting the Governor at this time."

"Why ever not?" Obi-Wan asked, effectively announcing her presence.

"Jedi Kenobi," the King, in his black robes and royal face-paint, greeted neutrally.

Obi-Wan bowed at the waist to the person sitting on the throne, though her eyes caught sight of Padme standing off to her side, near the door and in clear view of the young man on the throne. It was almost incredible how alike the two of them looked, underneath the paint. The shape of their faces, the colour of their eyes.

"Please tell us what you mean by that comment, Jedi Kenobi," the King requested.

"I believe that the message was very likely used as a means to track our location," Obi-Wan explained with a nod towards her Master. He had said it was likely bait to establish a connection trace already, after all. "You don't need to send a reply for enemies to make a trace. They'll know which planet we're on now. The trap, so far as it was intended, has already been sprung simply by receiving the message."

Captain Panaka visibly winced at that. They were so eager for any word from Naboo that they hadn't even thought of a transmission from home being used to discover their location.

"I feel that there is someone else behind this, someone controlling the Trade Federation," Qui-Gon interjected thoughtfully. "They may choose to send an assassin, your highness."

"They would have to first get to Tatooine, and then search it, before they could make an attack," Obi-Wan pointed out. "I believe that we should be able to leave shortly after this sandstorm has past, your highness, by which time your enemies may have only just arrived on the planet."

"If you reply, it could allow them to pinpoint our exact location," Qui-Gon added. "If we were to leave the planet immediately after sending it, however, it might delay your enemies slightly."

The King frowned in thought, and his eyes roved over everybody who was present.  
"On the bright side, if there is one, 'dying' is not 'dead'," Obi-Wan offered. "Yet."

"I will make no reply," the young King decided, his tone weary. "Now, Jedi Kenobi, perhaps you could explain why, in addition to the parts needed to repair our ship, you purchased two slaves? Surely you are aware of the Republic's anti-slavery laws. Though, I allow, the children have quite entertained my attendants with their awe and curiosity about our ship."

"The boy that I purchased shines, to the view of a Jedi, with untapped and untrained Force Potential. He is too old for the Jedi Council to accept him to be trained, but it would have been negligent of me to leave the child here," she explained humbly. "It is my intention to petition that the boy be sponsored by the Temple to a school, and it would have been unkind to separate the child from his mother."

"My student has already past to me the device that will effectively free the pair," Qui-Gon added.

The King's gaze seemed to look through Obi-Wan, and she had a feeling that was because Padme stood just off from behind her.

"Very well," the King agreed. "Do they have any other belongings they must fetch before we leave?"

Obi-Wan smiled. "I spoke briefly with the mother," she answered. "The child has built a pod-racer that he doesn't want to leave behind. With your permission, your highness, the boy and his friends could retrieve it and possibly store it in the droid bay?"

The King nodded after a moment of thought. "Very well," he agreed. "Your generosity and thoughtful nature are a credit to you, Jedi Kenobi."

Obi-Wan bowed in gratitude and deference to the King's own giving nature.

~oOo~

The repairs hadn't been begun in any way, shape or form. Anakin and his friends had been too busy; first getting everything aboard the ship, and then marvelling at the fact that they were ona _real starship_. The amazing things that came with such an experience almost seemed too much.

Meeting the pilot of said _real starship_. Meeting a bunch of people who were the security and personal attendants of another planet's _King_. Meeting a _real Jedi_!

It was really no wonder that no work had been done once they had all gotten aboard.

Obi-Wan visited them all in the dining space of the ship, her first time meeting the children apart from Anakin, and the first time the boy would see her in her robes.

"You're a Jedi too?!" the boy asked, eyes wide.

Obi-Wan grinned widely at the shocked awe the child didn't bother to hide. "That's right," she agreed, and reached out to muss his hair.

"But- but you were a bounty hunter with slaves!" Anakin objected, clearly confused.

Obi-Wan's grin gentled into a kinder smile. "I was just pretending to be a bounty hunter," she explained. "That Toydarian, he wouldn't have respected me so much if he thought I wouldn't shoot him for short-shifting me, would he?" she asked pointedly, though she kept her voice gentle.

"Watto would have charged more," Anakin agreed. "But what about your slaves?"

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I met Jar-Jar Binks because he owes my Master a life-debt, and the one I called _mah bukee_ _sweets patogga_ is actually one of King Amidala's attendants," she answered with a wry smile. "I just told them how to act while we were there, so no one would suspect that I wasn't who I was pretending to be. Does that satisfy your concerns?"

The child nodded, hesitantly at first, but more surely after a moment.

"So, what's gonna happen to Ani and his momma now?" asked one of the boy's friends.

"Is Ani gonna be a Jedi too?" asked another.

"No," Obi-Wan answered instantly. Not harshly, but quickly. She'd already explained to Shmi, but it looked like now she would be explaining to the children as well.

"Why not?" Anakin asked, hurt shining in his eyes. "I've been dreaming about leaving and becoming a Jedi..."

Obi-Wan got down on her knees so that she was eye-level with the children – so that they could all see her sincerity in her expression. "The rules of the Order would mean you'd never be allowed to see your mother again," Obi-Wan explained as kindly as she could. "And you'd be six to eight years behind the other children your age," she added.

The children all expressed astonishment, every one of them in their own way. Jaws dropped, eyes bugged, and the little Rodian boy gripped his head with both hands. It seemed that none of them could believe it.

"But I'm only just nine!" Anakin finally yelped.

Obi-Wan nodded, her expression calm. She had guessed he was about that age. "And children are brought to the Temple within the first couple of years of their lives," she replied evenly.

"Then... what _will_ happen to me?" Anakin asked, a little fearful.

"Mistress Obi-Wan told me that Watto bragged about your pilot skills Ani," Shmi said with a smile, having watched the entire scene from the food preparation area – it could not be called a kitchen by any stretch. It only dispensed protein mixes. Then again, no one was ever in space for too long any more, unless they lived on a space station, so the rations weren't too much of a hardship.

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "And I could tell you knew your way around parts as well. How would you like to go to school? The Corellian Academy is the best place to learn more about flying and making ships and droids," she offered the boy. "The Jedi Temple sponsors children who are Force-sensitive, but too old to be trained in the Order, into any school they feel they're drawn to."

Anakin's eyes nearly popped out of his head as his jaw dropped. "I could be a real pilot?" he asked softly. It seemed that this prospect was even more appealing to the boy than becoming a Jedi.

Obi-Wan nodded.

"I'm sure you'd be the best in the galaxy," Shmi agreed with a proud smile, "and we could still live together," she added as she brought a platter of simple, local food to the table. Likely she'd brought it from her own kitchen, so that it wouldn't be left to waste.

"You could even learn how to build starships," Obi-Wan suggested. "Not every person who is Force-sensitive in the galaxy is a Jedi. There are a lot of pilots, engineers, farmers... even a few politicians," she added, and pulled a face at the last one, clearly indicating her opinion on politicians.

That got the children to laugh, as it was meant to.

"Now, I came to tell you that King Amidala has agreed to you bringing your pod racer along," Obi-Wan said, standing up straight once more.

"Yipee!" Anakin cheered happily, which caused Obi-Wan to chuckle, and his mother's expression to pinch slightly.

Shmi loved her son, and loved to see him happy, but she clearly didn't care for his love of pod racing.

"Once the storm has past, someone will go with you and your friends to fetch it," Obi-Wan elaborated. "Might be me, might be someone else. Mind you, we'll probably be taking off as soon as you've got it loaded," she warned.

Anakin nodded his understanding enthusiastically.

Obi-Wan manipulated the Force just enough that one of the fruit on the platter that Shmi had set out floated up to her hand – which got a lot of soft, awed exclamations from the children – and bit into it with a smirk. Children were so easy to impress, and she was glad of it. Children should not be jaded and cynical like their elders.

~oOo~

Qui-Gon went with Anakin and the other children to fetch the pod racer once the sand storm had past. While they were gone, Obi-Wan basked in the quiet – and double-checked that the new hyper-drive was properly installed while Olie saw to the refuelling.

R2-D2 rolled into the engine room with a tweet of greeting.

"Hello," Obi-Wan replied happily. "Have you come to check the hyper-drive as well?"

R2 rocked back and forth on his supports, buzzing a couple of time. A clear positive.

"Then, by all means," Obi-Wan permitted with a grand bow to the little droid.

"You're not like anyone I've ever met before," a voice said softly from the doorway.

Obi-Wan turned. Padme stood there, in the orange robes of the King's attendants. Still in disguise.

"Not like any Jedi I've ever heard of either," Padme continued, a slightly confused and frustrated frown on his face.

"You haven't ever heard of my friends then," Obi-Wan offered with a wry smile. "I'm quite tame compared to them," she said.

"How can someone who masquerades as a bounty hunter, just to get a deal for parts, be considered 'tame'?" Padme asked, brow furrowed as he tried to figure that out.

Obi-Wan chuckled and shook her head. "You're too young to know," she answered kindly.

"And when I'm not?" Padme asked, and he asked it boldly.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "Your flirting has improved," she teased. The comment did its job marvellously, diverting the teenager from his line of questioning – while at the same time, it obliquely answered the question she had been asked.

An embarrassed blush overcame Padme's face.

Obi-Wan wasn't sure that he'd caught all of the implications of her comments, and truthfully, with him being only fourteen, she didn't all that much want him to. Goodness knows she hadn't until Siri and Quinlan had dragged her off to a bar in the lower levels of Coruscant to 'celebrate' her sixteenth birthday. That day, she had discovered Jawa juice, that her two friends were extremely free with their 'affections' when not in the Temple (by being so free, they justified that they weren't getting attached to anybody), and she had also learned how to use the Force to keep unwanted would-be suitors away from herself.

Not that Siri and Quinlan were the only ones responsible for Obi-Wan's education in such areas. It was actually a marvel to all of her friends that – with them around – she was still technically 'un-kissed' at twenty-five. Especially since every single one of them had offered.

Ric burst in on them then, his face sweaty and red from exertion. "Please tell me we're good to take off," he begged.

R2 gave an affirmative whistle.

"We are," Obi-Wan agreed with a frown, and pushed herself up from the chair where she'd been sitting. "What's wrong?" she asked as she followed after the pilot.

"Someone just about knocked over that kid with the Eopies as he was leaving, and your Master yelled for us to take off," the pilot answered between gulps of air as he threw himself into his chair in the cockpit. "He's still down there, fighting off whoever it is."

"Fly low," Obi-Wan ordered sharply, "and keep the ramp down. Master Qui-Gon will be able to make the jump, and then we can get out of here."

Olie nodded in assent, and turned the ship to aim for the direction he'd seen Qui-Gon and the unknown assailant fighting in.

As soon as they made a pass over where the small battle was taking place – and with lightsabers involved, which Obi-Wan could see was the case, it was never a simple 'fight' – the Padawan Jedi ran from the cockpit down to where the ramp entered onto the ship to check on her Master.

Shmi was already there, supporting the man that was easily two heads taller than her as he caught his breath.

"Are you alright, Qui-Gon Sir?" little Anakin asked, concerned for the tall man.

"Yes," the Master Jedi replied between heavy breaths. "I think so," he added.

"Master, was that -?" she could barely bring herself to ask, and she'd been studying all the lightsaber forms for a while now.

"I'm not sure," Qui-Gon answered, not needing to hear the rest of the question. "It was well-trained though, and I would guess it was after the King."

"They tracked the message faster than we gave credit," Obi-Wan noted unhappily.

Qui-Gon chuckled breathlessly. "Check your chronometer, Obi-Wan," he advised with a weak smile. "I believe it is later than you think."

"I should make note of the attack anyway," Obi-Wan allowed as she checked her chronometer as advised. Her eyebrows raised as the time displayed. It _was_ later in the afternoon than she had thought it was.

Obi-Wan turned on her recorder and automatically rattled off the time, her voice maintaining its stunned near-monotone as she stumbled over the words 'attack' and 'suspected attempt on King Amidala by unknown enemy'.

"What is that?" Shmi asked curiously when Obi-Wan clicked the recorder off.

"My Padawan is a notorious record keeper," Qui-Gon explained, having finally caught his breath and hold himself upright without the woman's support at his side. "There are times when it gets annoying during missions, but afterwards, when we have to make a report to the Jedi Council, they are always useful."

R2-D2, who had also joined them in the entryway, gave a whistle and a string of beeps and chirps.

Obi-Wan nodded. "That's a good idea Artoo," she agreed.

"What is?" Anakin asked curiously.

"Artoo suggested that I should give a copy to King Amidala when we reach Coruscant," Obi-Wan answered.

Qui-Gon nodded his approval and agreement to the idea.

"What are we gonna do about the bad-guy though?" Anakin pressed.

" _We_ won't do anything," Shmi scolded her son. "People who make themselves the enemies of Kings are too strong for you or I to fight. The Jedi will do something, and we will keep out of the way."

Anakin's shoulders slumped a little, but nodded in understanding. "Alright, then what are _you_ going to do about it?" the boy asked, correcting his question as he looked between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

"We shall be patient," Qui-Gon answered.

"Not really a lot else we can do at this point," Obi-Wan pointed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Obi-Wan climbed out of her bed in the quarters she now shared with Shmi and padded out of the room without putting her boots on. Certainly she could be just as cat-footed with them on as off, but she didn't feel like doing battle with her footwear just now. They were the most comfortable boots she had ever owned, but they were also a nuisance to put on or take off.

She headed for the dining area. The provisions of even a royal starship weren't the most extravagant – generally it didn't take much longer than one or two sleep-cycles to reach any part of the galaxy these days, provided your hyper-drive worked – but there would be milk, and there would be the appliances necessary to warm some. Warm milk had always helped her sleep when she was having difficulties reaching that much-desired state.

It also somehow opened her mind just a little wider to the Force, allowing her to dream clear visions of things the Force wanted to tell her. Which was why she didn't drink it every night.

Jar-Jar was asleep in one of the chairs, feet propped up on the table and muttering even more unintelligibly than usual as he dreamed. Anakin was awake though, propped up in a corner.

"You know, if you asked, neither I or your mother would have said 'no' if you wanted to sleep in our room," Obi-Wan offered kindly, then she noticed the child was shivering. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"It's cold," Anakin answered weakly.

"You come from a desert planet with two suns," Obi-Wan pointed out as she pulled off her own outer-robe. "I think nearly everywhere will be cold compared to that, at least for a while," she said, and wrapped her robe around the child.

The door opened again, revealing Padme in his orange robe.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Obi-Wan asked softly.

Padme shook his head. "I thought I might watch Governor Bibble's transmission again," he answered quietly.

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding, then twitched slightly as she remembered R2's suggestion from earlier, and fumbled through her robe, looking for the copy she had made of her audio-record of the mission.

"Here," she offered, holding out the data stick to the disguised King. "It's my mission log," she explained. "Times and events that I thought relevant when I recorded them. I don't know exactly how useful that will be..."

"But it is at least some proof of what is happening on my home planet," Padme replied, and took the data stick. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

"We'll leave you to watch the transmission in private," Obi-Wan declared, her voice soft but firm as she scooped Anakin up and tucked him securely between her side and one arm. "And _you_ will get more sleep tucked up with your mother, I think," she added to the child.

She could come back for her warm milk.

"I made this for you," Anakin said softly, pulling his arm out from beneath Obi-Wan's robe, extending his hand towards the female Jedi's free arm.

Obi-Wan obediently brought up her free hand to accept the gift.

"To remember me by," Anakin continued. "Since I'll be going to school, instead of living in the Jedi Temple like you do. It will bring you good luck," the boy added earnestly.

"It's very well done," she praised. Then smirked at the child. "Maybe you should go into making jewellery instead. I'm sure your mother would be happier if you weren't doing something as dangerous as flying all over the place," she added in a joking tone.

Anakin smiled shyly, but shook his head at the joking suggestion.

"I'm gonna be the first person to see _every_ planet in the galaxy," he declared proudly. "Master Qui-Gon said that no one else has done it, so I'm gonna be the first." The smile slipped away when they finally reached the room Obi-Wan and Shmi were sharing.

"I'm never going to see you again, after I get sent off to school, will I?" the child asked, his voice small.

Obi-Wan scoffed softly as she carefully set the child down on the bed beside his mother, tucking him in like a teddy bear once she'd reclaimed her robe.

"I'll be sent to check up on you once every two years," she corrected, "since I'm the Jedi that found you, and will be the Jedi to request you be sponsored by the Temple, even if I am still only a Padawan. Finding you and bringing you before the Council will make me responsible for you, to an extent. If you ever start having trouble because of your sensitivity to the Force, then it will be my job to make sure there will be someone to teach you how to focus and work past whatever difficulty it might be," she explained, and gave a smile. "You won't be completely rid of me until you're twenty," she warned playfully. "And even then, I might swing by now and then, just to embarrass you in front of your friends."

Anakin giggled at that, pleased and comforted.

Obi-Wan had changed his life in such a big way in such a small amount of time. He didn't want her to vanish from his life too soon. If he hadn't first seen her with blasters on her hips and acting like a bounty hunter, his first impression of her might have been that she was an angel – the most beautiful creatures in the galaxy, and from the moons of Iago, according to the traders and space pilots he'd heard talking. Anakin thought Jedi Kenobi was very beautiful. She was also quite intimidating though, first with the way she'd pretended to be a bounty hunter, and then when it turned out she was actually a Jedi.

"Sleep," Obi-Wan ordered softly, laying a hand with callouses from her lightsaber over the child's forehead and giving a little extra oomph to the suggestion by calling on the Force.

Anakin was out like a light.

Obi-Wan looked over the necklace he'd given her once more time, then stuffed it in her pocket and headed back to the dining area. She wanted her warm milk.

~oOo~

"Is Jawa juice alcoholic?" Padme asked when Obi-Wan returned to the dining area. He'd curled himself into the corner where Anakin had been earlier, and suddenly looked even younger than his already meagre fourteen years.

"Very," Obi-Wan replied instantly and easily as she moved towards the cold store.

"Wish I'd gotten to try some then," the teen sighed despondently. "It might make thinking about what's going on back home not hurt as much."

Obi-Wan paused for only a moment, then poured an extra helping of milk into the pan that would heat it.

"Even on the Rim Planets and in Coruscant's lower levels, you still have to be at least sixteen before they'll sell you alcohol by the glass," Obi-Wan said at last.

Padme frowned at the distinction Obi-Wan had made. "By the glass?" he repeated.

"Some drunks in the lower levels have kids that make runs for them, and the alcohol will be charged to a card. On the Rim, young slaves might have the same orders. They're generally easy enough to tell. They'll have more money than they've otherwise got any right to, will be ordering anywhere from five to twelve bottles... and probably have bruises on their faces to boot," Obi-Wan explained softly, and poured two cups of warm milk.

A few steps carried her over to sit beside the young King, and she past him one of the cups she held.

"That will have to tide you over for now," she said gently. "But I'll take you out for Jawa juice when you're old enough, if you like. I know I nice place on Coruscant. In Coco Town actually, and fairly near to the Senate building, though in a much cheaper neighbourhood. The food is good. Well, it's filling and tasty, if not very healthy," she explained.

"What's it called, this place?" Padme asked.

"Dex's Diner. A friend of mine, Dexter, owns and runs it. Having four arms comes in handy when you're running a diner kitchen," she added with a fond smile. Dex sure was a character.

"Four arms?" Padme parroted.

"Dex is a Besalisk," Obi-Wan supplied easily.

"Oh," Padme said softly, and took a sip of the warm milk from the cup he held in both hands.

"Have you listened to any of the recording I gave you?" Obi-Wan asked. She knew she was changing the subject, but she also knew that Padme had been deliberately avoiding thinking about the troubles that faced his people back on Naboo. Knew that the teen felt overwhelmed and unsure about what he _could_ do once they reached Coruscant, which they would soon enough.

"Your first entry," Padme allowed. "You recorded that you had been struck by a... what was it?" Padme muttered to himself as he pulled out the play-back device he'd inserted the data stick into.

"A Force Premonition, distinct yet vague, of imminent strife. Yet undefined and elusive in nature, but connected with this mission. For now, these connections are still only tenuous threads," Obi-Wan recited herself, then took a gulp of her own warm milk. "I remember. That feeling hasn't left me since I set foot on the Trade Federation's space station. Still imminent, undefined, elusive and vague, but getting closer. Sometimes it eases, sometimes it intensifies, sometimes it is momentarily eclipsed by the Force letting me know its opinion on something else, but it hasn't gone away."

"I'm sorry," Padme offered. "I can't imagine what that must be like for you."

"Yes you can," Obi-Wan countered. "It's like worrying about your people, and what you can and will do for them, but being stuck on a ship where the only thing you can do is wait. When you made the initial decision to leave Naboo for Coruscant, that worry eased because you were doing something. When the transmission came, it intensified. On Tatooine, you were so distracted by everything that for a short while your worry was eclipsed. You see?"

Padme hummed thoughtfully at that, and took another sip of his warm milk. "I think so," he allowed. "What made your feeling ease, or intensify?" he asked.

"The being that attacked Master Qui-Gon intensified it, while offering to send Anakin and his mother to Corellia and send the boy to school eased it," Obi-Wan explained freely. "And no, I don't know why certain things make the feeling better or worse. The feeling is too vague for me to make that judgement, unfortunately," Obi-Wan added with a frustrated sigh.

Padme bit his lip. "And what about... eclipsing the feeling?" he asked tentatively.

"The Force can be very contrary, sometimes," Obi-Wan admitted, almost appearing to go off on an unrelated tangent. She was building up to it though. "It is a nagging presence in the back of my brain, constantly whispering at me not to relax, but at the same time it seemed to scream with laughter, just like my friend Siri back on Coruscant, when Master Jinn saw me dressed up as a bounty hunter."

"Laughter?" Padme queried, the very beginning burble of a laugh in his own voice as he spoke.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at the teen. "The Force has a sense of humour," she stated dryly as one corner of her mouth curled upwards. "Don't let anybody ever try to persuade you otherwise."

"A dark sense of humour," Padme grumbled and swigged down the last of his warm milk.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "Don't let the Council Masters hear you say that," she warned. "They'd think it sacrilege. I personally think it is more a twisted sense of humour than a dark one."

"Peaceful planets being invaded isn't what I'd call funny," Padme grumbled. "No matter how you twist it."

"The Gungans have a military," Obi-Wan offered. "I didn't see much of it in their hidden city, but Jar-Jar was banished for being clumsy, and was greeted at weapon point when he took us to Gunga City, breaking his banishment by doing so."

Padme blinked at that, silently digesting the information given to him as Obi-Wan finished off her own milk.

"But the Naboo don't trust the Gungans, and right now you could use their help. That's the Force's sort of sense of humour," Obi-Wan continued lightly. "And then there's the situation I find myself in."

Padme startled out of his reverie. "What's your situation?" he asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't trust politicians, ever, at all," she stated plainly. "Yet I find myself willing to trust you, your highness, even as I know you to be deceiving my Master as to your identity and would also quite prefer that I hadn't figured out your secret. Imagine, trusting a politician while aware of a deception and lie that they are perpetrating," Obi-Wan said, her tone lodged somewhere between grumbling and teasing.

"Why don't you trust politicians?" Padme asked, amused by the truth of the Jedi's words.

Obi-Wan gave Padme a look, and it questioned the teenager's intelligence.

"I live on Coruscant," she stated, as though that explained everything. She knew though, that to someone who didn't live on Coruscant, it meant nothing at all. "I grew up watching bureaucracy slowly take over where democracy used to hold sway, and I hear a new account every time I leave the Temple of how this Senator or that administrator has been misbehaving in one way or another, and how another politician has heard the same thing and is blackmailing the first about it."

Padme blanched at the bleak view presented to him by the older woman who sat beside him.

"Surely there are _some_ still who are..." he tried weakly.

Obi-Wan nodded. "A few," she conceded. "But like you, most of those few aren't actually Senators. They might be aids learning the ropes, or rulers who don't much leave their planets. A while back, everybody was buzzing with the news that a planetary ruler had stormed the Senate building because they'd found out their Senator was horribly misrepresenting them. That man was very publicly sacked and replaced. The rest of the Senate were very well behaved for a good fortnight after that," she recalled with an amused smirk.

Padme swallowed tensely. "What do you think my chances are?" he asked. "Honestly?"

"The Trade Federation has a voice in the Senate," Obi-Wan said softly, and her blue eyes faded to grey as they fixed on a distant point that she wasn't even really seeing. "You may demand that something be done, but the only thing they will do is motion to form a committee to assess the truth of your claim against the very wealthy party that has foot-holds on all of their planets."

Padme found himself transfixed. Obi-Wan's voice was as distant as her eyes, and there was an eerie quality to the echo that shouldn't have even been there, but still resonated through the otherwise silent space.

Obi-Wan blinked, then stood and took both of the empty cups to wash.

"Obi-Wan, who can I trust?" Padme asked weakly.

"That's a delicate question to answer," Obi-Wan admitted. "Especially for one who's already advocated that I never trust politicians, ever."

Padme chuckled at that, but gestured that he wanted an answer of some kind anyway.

"You can trust the bureaucrats to follow procedure, even if it would take them a standard year to see anything actually done about Naboo's situation," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "You can trust the Trade Federation to object to everything you say and claim your accusations are baseless..."

"What about the Jedi?" Padme asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged, and it was a frustrated, helpless motion. "Unfortunately, we're not as independent of the Senate as we used to be," she confessed. "I'm not saying you can't trust a Jedi, but we aren't as free to follow the dictates of the Force as we were a few centuries ago. We are representatives of the Senate, rather than a collective that have a representative _in_ the Senate, offering them the guidance of the Force."

"And my own Senator?" Padme questioned. "Or Supreme Chancellor Valorum? Do you know much about them? I've really only spoken with them a few times, and never yet in person."

"Oh, you can trust Supreme Chancellor Valorum to want to do the right thing," Obi-Wan assured the young King. "But the bureaucrats, with their superfluous legalistic procedures, block a lot of the good he wants to do, and as long as there are long and involved legalistic procedures, and someone who demands in the Senate that these extra rules be adhered to, he has to give way to them."

Padme hung his head. "You didn't answer about my own Sentor," he reminded.

Obi-Wan sighed sadly. She didn't want to be having this conversation really. She much preferred philosophy to politics. Still, she couldn't leave the lost young ruler hanging. He was admitting that he needed help, and she had been sent on this mission to help him.

"Palpatine... I honestly don't know a thing about the man," she admitted, though she didn't look up from the cups she was washing to the King's face. "Which is surprising in the hot-bed of gossip that is Coruscant. Not a word is spoken of him, bad, good, or even speculative. And now that I think of it, that's actually a bit worrying," she added to herself.

From the way Padme shifted in his seat though, he'd heard her.

"If he's actually as dedicated to the cause as he says he is, then he'd probably call on you to present evidence to the Senate," Obi-Wan offered in bleak comfort. "If he calls on you to present the case though... Well, the question that will need to be asked is: what has he been doing since you last spoke to him?" she pointed out gently.

Padme nodded thoughtfully, though his expression was drawn and grim. "Your advice is sound," he agreed. "Thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Think you'll be able to sleep now?" she asked softly.

~oOo~

Coruscant wasn't a pretty planet. Not from space. It was black all over with a few lines, hair-thin, of worrying orange light. It wasn't a place where Master Qui-Gon Jinn's much-advocated Living Force lingered over-much. It was why the Jedi Master rarely lingered at the Temple for a full week at a time before he requested another mission away from Coruscant. The planet was one big city, and there wasn't one plant to be found in the whole place that wasn't part of a menu in some restaurant, or lovingly cultivated in the Jedi Temple.

Tatooine, for all that it was covered with sand, was a more appealing view out of the cockpit window. The planet covered in shifting sands and large plateaus and spires of rock was pretty, in its own way. Views of places like Naboo, Corellia, and Kashyyk were much more to Obi-Wan's tastes, with their greens and blues. They were also the sorts of planets that her Master liked to visit best, because he was so in tune with the Living Force and such places were filled with it more abundantly.

The Unifying Force guided Obi-Wan comfortably through any society, on any planet. Her only complaints were of the body on Tatooine, and aesthetic as they approached the planet she had been raised on.

Still, Anakin seemed to be very impressed from his view point, standing beside the pilot in the cockpit.

"Go say your goodbyes, Anakin," Obi-Wan instructed gently as she entered the cockpit. "The King and his people will be going to talk to politicians when we land, while you and your mother are coming with Master Qui-Gon and I to talk to the Jedi Council."

"Okay," Anakin agreed, and started with the pilot beside him. "Bye Mister Olie. I hope I get to see you again some day."

Ric smiled back at the kid. "I expect to hear the exploits of Captain Skywalker being blared across the HoloNet before too long," he answered. "Good luck Kid."

Anakin grinned back before he hurried out of the cockpit.

"He's a cute kid," the pilot offered.

"He's a smart brat with a baby-face," Obi-Wan retorted without any heat.

Ric just smiled.

"He'll give all his teachers grey hair when he gets to the Academy, and he'll be the hero of his peers when he gets his podracer finished and going," she added. "What's our ETA?"

"Fifteen minutes," Olie answered, the smile slipping from his face as he re-focused on the task at hand.

"Thanks."

~oOo~

Obi-Wan did her best to ignore Senator Palpatine as she bowed to Chancellor Valorum, a little deeper than her Master did beside her. It was her first encounter with the politician from Naboo, and where Padme inspired trust despite his deceit, Palpatine set Obi-Wan's teeth on edge just by standing there in his opulent, many-layered robes and smiling. As the two men stood, side by side, Obi-Wan compared them. Palpatine was dressed far more richly than the Supreme Chancellor, who wore only a simple, straight robe with a belt around his middle.

She'd been sent on missions with her Master at the behest of the Supreme Chancellor before, and when she spared a thought for him beyond that, mostly she pitied him for holding the position he did. Supreme Chancellor was certainly a thankless job these days.

"It is a great gift to see you alive, your majesty," Senator Palpatine said by way of greeting. "With the communication breakdown, we've been very concerned."

Obi-Wan narrowed her eyes at the man. There was a clear acknowledgement that something was not right on Naboo, but had the Senator requested anything be done to investigate? No, the Force told her that he had not, and there was another feeling, a less definite one than any prompting of the Force, but it was a feeling she trusted all the same.

This man used 'truth' as a veil, and if they had greater context for his actions...

Obi-Wan stifled a sigh. Nothing more clear than that. Everything was murky except that this man set her teeth on edge and she was honestly concerned about leaving Naboo's King with this politician.

"I'm anxious to hear your report on the situation," he continued, as though his King answered to him, rather than the other way around. "May I present Supreme Chancellor Valorum," Palpatine continued quickly. Perhaps he had just realised his slip and was hurrying to move past it, so he wouldn't be called out on it.

"Welcome, your highness," Valorum said, his neck stiff. But then, it always was that way. It was his only defence against being taken advantage of by those among the Senate. If he did everything 'properly', they could not fault him. Poor man's hair had been turning rapidly white and thinning on top over the last few months. "It's an honour to finally meet you in person."

"Thank you, Supreme Chancellor," the King answered, and the party began to move off towards the taxi shuttle that Palpatine had waiting for them.

"I must relate to you how distressed everyone is over the current situation," the Chancellor continued. "I've called a special Session of the Senate to hear your position."

That sounded vaguely hopeful for Naboo, though hearing that 'everyone' was 'distressed' wouldn't get anything done any faster. There was no indication that anything had been done up until this point, after all, and there were people on Coruscant who knew about the communications disruption – and were not so ignorant or naïve as to believe it meant nothing when there was already a blockade around the planet.

Obi-Wan wondered if the young monarch heard all the undertones that she did. The teen had studied politics, was interested in it, where Obi-Wan had simply grown up with it being part of every-day conversation. Well, once she got out of the creche and had become a Padawan anyway.

"I'm grateful for your concern, Chancellor," the King replied. "Hopefully something may be accomplished before the time for discussion runs out."

The Chancellor nodded in agreement, and allowed the Naboo party to be escorted away by their Senator, Jar-Jar Binks going with them at Qui-Gon's quiet urging.

Soon it was only the Jedi, the Skywalkers, and the Chancellor's party remaining. The ship's crew were still there also, but they would be staying with the ship, at least for now.

"May I have your reports, Master Jinn, Padawan Kenobi?" Valorum requested.

Obi-Wan pulled out a data stick, just like the one she had given to Padme. It contained the same information, but more – all of the recordings she had made since being sent on the mission at Valorum's request were on this data stick, rather than just the reports Obi-Wan had made since landing on the Trade Federation's space station.

Qui-Gon also produced a similar device, though it had fewer snippets of recorded conversation and more ship logs. Even a Master could learn from a Padawan, sometimes. There was even a copy of the transmission that Sio Bibble had sent to them in Qui-Gon's record of the mission.

Valorum's stiff neck bent a little, and the ever-worried frown on his face eased into a hint of a smile as he accepted the data sticks.

"This is why I always request you when I must send Ambassadors to represent the Senate in a delicate matter," he admitted. "This evidence will be most helpful in the Senate, though possibly not welcomed by all," he added with a very small, quietly pleased smile.

"I hope you will forgive us though Chancellor," Qui-Gon requested. "We need to speak with the Jedi Council as soon as possible. This situation is much more complicated than any of us had anticipated."

"I will forgive you," Valorum agreed, "if I may have an introduction to this vision of loveliness you have brought with you," he said, cutting his eyes across to Shmi Skywalker.

Who promptly blushed when she realised that the Supreme Chancellor was talking about her. She'd never been complimented in such a way in her life.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Supreme Chancellor, this is Shmi Skywalker and her son Anakin," she presented.

Shmi did her best to curtsey in her patched dress while her son bowed, though he didn't take his eyes off the man as he did so.

"I built my own pod racer," the boy said. "Would you like to see? King Amidala let me bring it from Tatooine on his ship."

"I'm afraid I don't have the time to right now," Valorum answered the boy apologetically. "I have to get ready for the Session that will hopefully help Naboo. Maybe afterwards?" he offered. "I would have time then to actually hear what pod racing is."

Anakin's eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped, as though he couldn't understand how anybody could have never heard of pod racing before, then he registered the offer. "That would be great!" he agreed.

"The pod and the rest of the Skywalker's possessions have got to come off the ship anyway, so that they can be stored until new, more permanent living arrangements can be made," Qui-Gon added.

"Please allow me," Valorum offered. "I'll send some of my staff to arrange temporary quarters and storage. That way, I can look forward to some pleasant company after the Session."

Shmi and Anakin both smiled at that.

"Thank you, Supreme Chancellor," Shmi said shyly, though her genuine gratitude shone through.

"For now though, we need to make our reports to the Council and introduce Ani to them," Qui-Gon reminded firmly.

Chancellor Valorum's small smile vanished completely once more, and he gave a firm, business-like nod of his head.


	7. Chapter 7

Obi-Wan stood by her Master's side as they gave their report to the Jedi Council. Most of the time, she kept her peace, only speaking when called upon to give extra details, and finally the report of events as they pertained to the Naboo situation was nearing completion. They'd gone over Obi-Wan's bad feeling at the beginning, Qui-Gon had talked of how he had felt that the Trade Federation intended to destroy the young King, and now her Master was recounting his battle with the unknown assailant on Tatooine.

"He was trained in the Jedi arts," Qui-Gon asserted. "His fighting style reminded me of some of the forms my Padawan has been learning under the supervision of Masters Yoda and Windu," he added with clear concern. "And there was a darkness about him. I feel certain that he was -" Qui-Gon hesitated. He didn't want to voice his suspicions, for fear that they were right, but Jedi did not give in to their fears. "A Sith Lord," he proclaimed.

"Impossible," Master Mundi denied immediately, in shock rather than derision. "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

Obi-Wan felt one of her eyebrows raise itself, quite without her permission, towards her hairline. It boggled the mind. Extinct? Did they forget what had become of her Master's last apprentice already? Granted, Xanatos was dead now, but he had been more than just a 'fallen Jedi' before his end had come about.

"I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing," Master Windu denied, clearly more mindful of the recent trouble than Master Mundi. Then again, Master Mundi hadn't been on Coruscant when Xanatos had gone bad. Master Windu had been a witness, and had been one who comforted Qui-Gon in the wake of the man's self-perceived failure.

"Ah," Yoda spoke up. "Hard to see, the Dark Side is," he warned and reminded the collective.

"We will use all our resources to unravel this mystery," Master Windu promised. "We will discover the identity of your attacker."

Obi-Wan observed that her Master seemed to age before her eyes, rather than becoming lighter as this burden was shared. She could tell then that her Master believed that none of them would find the information they needed until it was too late to be of any benefit.

"May the Force be with you," Master Windu dismissed.

Both the Master and Padawan bowed, but they did not move from where they stood when they straightened.

"More to say have you?" Yoda enquired.

"I wish to nominate my Padawan to take her Knight Trials," Qui-Gon stated frankly, surprising Obi-Wan, since that was not what she had expected him to say next. "I believe that she is ready. Very likely she has been ready for longer that I have been aware."

"Our own council we will keep on who is ready," Yoda countered, though his tone was thoughtful rather than objecting, and he hummed in consideration.

Obi-Wan breathed deeply, welcoming in the calm of the Force as she felt the weight of twelve sets of eyes fix on her and attempt to measure her worth.

"What do you have to say to this nomination, Padawan Kenobi?" Master Poof asked, his voice serene yet his tone just as probing as the question itself.

Obi-Wan didn't answer instantly, but rather gave the question the consideration that it – and of course the nomination itself – deserved. She turned to face the Quermian Master so that she could address her answer directly to him, since he had asked it.

"I say," she started slowly, "that even if I were to take the trials and be knighted, I would still wear a portion of my hair in a braid, to remind myself that however much I may advance, I will still be learning more about the Force every day that I live," she answered carefully. "At the same time, that my Master believes me worthy to take the Trials brings warmth to my heart."

Master Poof bent his long neck in solemn approval of the answer she had given.

From another quarter of the room, three simple words of Shyriiwook echoed through the room. Master Tyvokka rarely spoke up in Council Sessions, but when he did, his word was listened to as attentively as Master Yoda.

Everyone present understood the language, as necessity, and so the commendation rung in their minds as well as their ears. _She'll do well_.

Obi-Wan bowed deeply to the aging Wookie Master, unable to utter a word for the awe and gratitude she felt towards him for his commendation of her promotion.

"Perhaps we could arrange for the Trials to take place in a week? I think that will be best," suggested Master Koth.

"A week," Master Windu agreed. Each member of the Council had their place and duties beyond that room, and for Master Windu, it was the general administration of the Temple as a whole, though different parts of the Temple were run by other Masters of the Order.

"Now, perhaps you would tell us about the bright Force Presence that you have left waiting beyond the door of this chamber?" suggested Master Koon through his breathing mask.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both bowed, and Qui-Gon waved for Obi-Wan to fetch the child, while he gave a brief explanation of her discovery.

"While on Tatooine, my Padawan discovered a child with great Force Potential. I believe the child to be a vergence in the Force," he added quickly before his student returned.

"I heard that, Master," she muttered at him darkly as she past him, a hand on Anakin's shoulder as she brought him to stand before Masters Yoda and Windu specifically. "Masters, this is Anakin Skywalker, of Tatooine," she presented. "I respectfully request that he be sponsored by the Temple to the Corellian Academy."

"Sponsor!" Master Yoda repeated with some surprise. "A long time it has been, since sponsor a child's education, the Order has."

"But it is not without precedent," Obi-Wan persisted earnestly, though still politely. She didn't want this request to be turned down, after all.

Yoda chuckled. "Deny that, I do not," he agreed. "More common, it used to be. Come closer, young Skywalker," Yoda requested with a wave.

Anakin looked up at Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon nervously, and upon receiving encouraging smiles from them both, obediently stepped up to be before Master Yoda.

"How feel you?" the Trog asked.

"Cold, Sir," Anakin admitted. "But Mistress Kenobi said I'll get used to not living on a desert planet soon enough. Um... Nervous, but excited too. I really do want to go to school, and I'd be able to look after my mother if I went, wouldn't I?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to Obi-Wan to check.

"Your thoughts linger on your mother," Master Mundi observed.

Anakin nodded. "She's all I've had for a long time," he said, "and I'm in a strange new place, but she always tells me to be brave and follow my heart."

"Clouded, your future is. Mired in uncertainty, with many paths to choose from," Master Yoda mused as he considered the child before him. "But this is the future often. Carrying light and hope, you are, yes," he added, and hummed thoughtfully. "To the Corellian Academy, sponsored the boy will be," he decided.

Anakin's face split into a smile. "Yipee!" he cheered, and bounced back to Obi-Wan to wrap his arms around her waist in a hug.

The child's pure joy was infectious, and even the stoic Master Windu cracked into a small smile as others in the room chuckled softly. Obi-Wan half wanted to run off to her friends and tell them that she'd seen Master Windu smile, but she knew that none of them would believe her. She barely believed it herself. Sure he _smirked_ a lot, but actually _smile_? Whole other thing.

"Thank the Masters for their generosity, Anakin," Obi-Wan urged, separating him from her with a gentle hand on his shoulder once she got over the surprise of seeing so many serious Jedi Masters taking a moment to bask in the pure joy the boy... and the Force, as well. All sharing freely in that single bright moment.

Anakin released her, turned, and bowed deeply to Master Yoda.

"Thank you very much Sir," the child said, unable to wipe the utterly thrilled expression from his face.

"Most welcome, you are, Youngling," Master Yoda answered with a fond chuckle. "May the Force be with you," he declared, and with a wave of his hand, the trio was dismissed from the Council chamber.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan took Anakin to the temporary residence provided for the Skywalkers by the Supreme Chancellor, where Anakin leapt into Shmi's arms and crowed the good news proudly.

"Thank you," Shmi said, her eyes tearing up as she smiled over at Obi-Wan. "I don't think we can ever thank you enough."

Obi-Wan wrapped an arm around Shmi's shoulders. "Make this one eat his vegetables and do all his homework to top standard in proper time," she answered easily. "That will be thanks enough to me."

"I will!" Anakin swore. "I'll be the best in the whole class!"

"And be sure to pop his ego now and then," Obi-Wan added to Shmi seriously.

Shmi laughed, and simply held her son tighter to her.

"But what comes next?" Shmi asked.

Obi-Wan winced, and pulled out a datapad from the bag she had been carrying. "Now," she said with a sigh, "now we deal with filling in all the forms you're going to need to live on Corellia and enrol Anakin into the Academy. Let's start with housing. You're going to need somewhere with space, if Anakin here is going to continue to work on his pod, or build _other_ space craft in the back-yard."

Anakin fairly beamed at the prospect.

"And while the Order will give you and Anakin an allowance while Anakin is at the Academy, it won't be large, so you'll want to find some work as well..." Obi-Wan continued.

Shmi nodded in agreement, and guided the conversation towards the nearest table where they could sit and go over the documents.

About five minutes in, Anakin started to fidget in his seat.

"Patience is a virtue," Obi-Wan scolded lightly. "But it is boring, I know," she allowed.

"Why don't you go and do some more work on See-Threepio?" Shmi suggested to her son gently. "You don't really need to sit through all this just yet. When you decide to move out of home and have children of your own, that will be soon enough for you to worry about these things," she said with fond happiness.

"'Kay!" Anakin agreed easily, and slipped off his chair to find his unfinished protocol droid.

All the forms were finally and completely filled out only a little less than a standard hour later, at which time Finis Valorum appeared at the door.

"Supreme Chancellor," Obi-Wan greeted, and as she had just stood from her seat anyway, easily bowed to the man. "May I enquire how the Session went?"

Valorum took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let it out slowly. "It was radical," he stated plainly. "King Amidala decried the Senate's inaction when they had enough evidence to mount an investigation several days ago and yet failed to do so, went on to denounce his own Senator for failure to uphold the wishes and needs of his people as he had sworn to do when taking the office, and called out the bureaucratic process as failing to appropriately serve the people it had been created to aid."

Obi-Wan and Shmi both blinked in shock at that, and Obi-Wan's eyebrows rocketed up towards her hair, while Shmi's mouth fell open slightly.

"He's been busy then," Obi-Wan decided softly after letting that all sink in.

Valorum chuckled. "Oh yes," he agreed. "King Amidala then went on to accuse the Trade Federation of illegally invading Naboo's sovereignty after having attempted to murder Ambassadors sent by myself to force a settlement between them, and when the representative of the Trade Federation objected, the young man produced proof," the Chancellor recalled with a grin. "I didn't know you'd given him a copy of your recordings," he commented to Obi-Wan.

She shrugged a little sheepishly in answer. "It seemed an appropriate action, and you had proof to supply even if I hadn't given a copy to his highness," she pointed out.

Valorum nodded. "Indeed," he agreed with a smile. "Indeed," he repeated. "And I would have, but he beat me to it," he added as he reached into a pocket of his robe. From within, he removed a holo-recording. "This was my favourite moment of the Session though," he declared, simultaneously smiling and solemn, and turned on the device to play back.

King Amidala's face, painted and beneath an elaborate head-dress, appeared in the blue, flickering tones of the projector.

"I was not elected to watch my people, nor indeed all the life that exists only on Naboo, suffer and die while you discuss this invasion over tea and biscuits!" King Amidala snapped at the unseen Senate. "It saddens me to realise that the Republic no longer functions, and that bureaucracy, which was initially created for the sake of aiding the people that this body serves, may be the reason!"

Obi-Wan smiled proudly at that. Padme was quite the sponge for information, any information, and seemed to have quite a talent for using it. The teenager wielded his words with the same skill Master Windu did his lightsaber.

"I pray that sanity and compassion will be restored to the Senate before the beauty, life, and diversity of Naboo is extinct. With the way matters appear to be progressing, I expect that extermination will probably begin to happen some time next week," King Amidala said before Valorum turned off the holo-recording.

"Quite the speech," Shmi praised faintly.

"I understand that King Amidala will be going back to Naboo soon," Valorum said as he tucked the device back into the pocket of his robe. "I'd appreciate it if you and your Master would go with him. Protect him as best you can and bring back a report of the forces that the Trade Federation has there. I've never liked that they had enough power to merit a seat in the Senate, and if the Force is with us, then it might see that privilege at least removed."

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding, but her face showed a hint of doubt.

"I will, of course, make this a formal request to the Jedi Council," Valorum assured her.

The sliver of tension in Obi-Wan's frame left her at that. Doing things like that without utilising the proper channels would not set a welcome precedent to the rest of Order.

"Now, I believe that a certain young man was going to educate me as to what a pod racer was?" Valorum asked, clapping his hands together and letting an eager smile light up his face.

"It is something that gives me grey hairs," Shmi scolded firmly, then relented with a smile that was only a little sad. "But it makes him happier than anything else he's found yet in the galaxy," she added, then called for Anakin.

"I'd better return to the Temple," Obi-Wan excused herself once Anakin joined them. "I'll see you later Ani," she promised. "Force be with you Shmi, Chancellor," she bid, hugging the former and bowing to the latter.

"See you later Mistress Kenobi!" Anakin called after her, waving, before he grabbed the Chancellor's hand and started rattling off about pod racing enthusiastically, much to the old man's amusement.

~oOo~

"The Skywalkers are taken care of?" Qui-Gon asked as he and Obi-Wan headed down to where King Amidala's starship – now properly fixed up once more – was waiting to take off.

"They are," Obi-Wan agreed with a peaceful smile. "Anakin is very excited to go to school, and Shmi is looking forward to being able to start her own business to support herself and her son beyond the stipend that the Temple will give them."

"I'm glad," Qui-Gon said, though there was something in his tone which completely contradicted his words.

Obi-Wan sighed and folded her arms under her bosom. "What is it Master?" she demanded wearily.

"It's just... I feel that Anakin is the Chosen One, and should be trained," Qui-Gon answered with a frown.

Obi-Wan rolled her eyes. She'd never given any credit to ancient prophecies. No Force Vision was ever relevant more than a year or two in advance at most. If there was an ancient prophecy about a 'Chosen One' (and she knew there was, as it was in the Archives), then Obi-Wan suspected it of having been long fulfilled. Though the fulfilment had clearly not been recorded as the prophecy had been. Besides, her Master knew next to nothing about the movements of the Unifying Force, however in tune he was with the Living Force.

"He is being trained," Obi-Wan pointed out instead of voicing her true opinion on the prophecy. An alternate truth would do just as well for this discussion. "Nowhere in that prophecy does it say that the one to bring balance to the Force has to be a Jedi."

"Who would destroy the Sith, if not a Jedi?" Qui-Gon countered.

"Sith have been known to destroy themselves in the past," Obi-Wan joked with a smirk. "The prophecy does say that a child will be born in a time of great despair though, and I don't remember anything happening nine years ago that was particularly horrifying," she added pointedly.

Qui-Gon turned a put-out, mildly frustrated expression on his Padawan.

"Your logic is infuriating," he informed her. "I will be glad when you are no longer my Padawan and forever using it against me."

"Aw, don't say that Master," Obi-Wan replied teasingly, smiling a tiny bit smugly. "You'd miss me."

"You mean you'd actually leave me alone just because you wouldn't be my Padawan any more?" he countered.

"No," Obi-Wan answered, honestly and instantly.

"Then I'll have no occasion to miss you," Qui-Gon affirmed with a smile.

While the ship's crew had been making last checks, and the two Jedi had been talking, the King's security team arrived.

Not long after, King Amidala and his attendants joined them as well.

"Your majesty, it is our pleasure to continue to serve, and protect you," Qui-Gon greeted with a bow.  
"I welcome your help," King Amidala replied.

Obi-Wan noted that, beneath the face-paint, it was Padme instead of his body-double that had been wearing the royal accoutrement on the journey to Coruscant. She wondered how long Padme would remain in his robes. They were rather a lot more cumbersome-looking than the simple attendant robes.

"I fear that the Trade Federation truly does mean to destroy me," the King admitted. "Just as you suggested when we left," he added, "and Chancellor Valorum agrees with you."

"I assure you, neither I nor my apprentice will allow that to happen," Qui-Gon promised the young King.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon took up guard position on either side of the King as they moved up the ramp of the ship.

"We-sa goin' _home_!" Jar-Jar cheered before he too followed them up the ramp and into the ship, R2 at his side. No new astromech droids had been purchased for the ship. R2-D2 was part of the group now, and would be trusted with all the duties of his station as well as accompanying them when they left the ship. A speeder had been loaded aboard into the old droid bay.

"You're very cheerful for a clumsy Gungan heading back to a world that's nearly overrun by a droid army," Obi-Wan quipped when Jar-Jar finally reached the top of the ramp. "Come on," she urged as the creature gulped nervously at the reminder. "The King wants you in his throne room with the rest of us for a planning session."

"Me-sa?" Jar-Jar asked, surprised.

Obi-Wan huffed with a smile. "You-sa," she agreed wryly.

~oOo~

"As soon as we land, the Federation will arrest you, and force you to sign the treaty," Captain Panaka declared.

"I agree," Qui-Gon added lowly. "I'm not sure what you wish to accomplish by this," he admitted.

"I will take back what's ours," King Amidala asserted calmly, resplendent in black and purple robes as he sat on his throne, a gold head-dress over his brow.

"There are too few of us, your highness," Panaka protested. "We have no army."

"And I can only protect you, I can't fight a war for you," Qui-Gon added, sympathetic but genuinely helpless in this matter.

King Amidala shifted his calm brown gaze from the two most senior and experienced persons present to a pair of younger beings.

"Jar-Jar Binks," he called.

"Me-sa, your highness?" the Gungan asked, surprised as he pointed a finger to his own chest, just to check.

"Yes," Amidala confirmed. "Would it be possible to approach the Gungans for help in ridding our world of these invaders?" he asked.

Jar-Jar brought a hand up to his chin in thought. "Hmm, should be," he agreed. "But Gungans no likin' outsiders, an' with all the mechaneeks trompin' around out there, they won't be givin' a warm welcome."

"I wouldn't expect one, especially under these circumstances," the young King agreed. "But to defend our home, I need all the help I can get."

"Should be do-able," Jar-Jar reaffirmed. "If-en the Bosses is willin' to listen to yous at all. We-sa warriors. Gungans no givin' up without a fight."

The King nodded gratefully to the Gungan that had effectively, if inadvertently, become the ambassador of his people before the planet's ruler. Then his gaze shifted forward from Jar-Jar to Obi-Wan. "Speaking of which," he continued. "Mistress Kenobi, your recordings were most insightful. You have my gratitude."

Obi-Wan bowed wordlessly.

"But I have a question," Amidala continued.

Obi-Wan straightened, ready to hear and answer as best she could.

"What can you remember of how the battle station was arranged?" Amidala asked. Battle station, yes, it seemed foolish to call it simply a space station now, when it was known to be the control ship of the droid army that had invaded Naboo. "We will need to take out the control ship if we truly wish to win this fight."

Obi-Wan tilted her head back and closed her eyes, opening her mind to the Force, asking it to clarify her memories and whisper to her things that she had missed initially.

"The station will be well guarded, and the weapons on your fighters may not penetrate the shields," she said, starting with the bad news. "There is an opening though. The power generator of the station is accessible if you simply go far enough into the hangar aboard ship. It would be risky, flying in, turning around, shooting out the generator and flying out again before the station explodes around you, but it is theoretically possible."

"And my pilots will be risking their lives as it is, simply by flying out and making an attack on the battle station," Amidala concluded, voicing the words that Obi-Wan had judiciously avoided.

She bowed her head in acknowledgement.


	8. Chapter 8

The space surrounding Naboo wasn't as cluttered with ships as it had been when Obi-Wan and her master had first approached the planet only a few days ago. So many of the Trade Federation's craft had descended upon the planet, though there were still enough floating about that getting down to the planet undetected would be difficult.

Reaching the planet without being assaulted would be a different matter. After all, the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation wanted the Naboo King alive and his signature on the treaty they had drawn up to legitimise their occupation of his planet.

Going undetected was presently the aim. They had no desire to reach Naboo only to be greeted by a swarm of droids. Certainly, that would get the King into the throne room, but not in a position of power from which he could force the Federation off his planet.

Obi-Wan was up in the cockpit when they entered the atmosphere of the planet, calculating the co-ordinates and providing directions for finding somewhere to land that was near to the Gungan's underwater city – but at the same time, not _too_ near. They didn't want to draw the attention of the droid army too soon, nor too near to the homes of the race that the King hoped to make allies of for the unfortunately inevitable confrontation that was bearing down on them.

The ship finally set down in a section of the swamp, and they all descended from it. They had a distance to go yet. In part, to separate themselves from the ship which would have doubtlessly been spotted, and in part... because there simply hadn't been anywhere all that near to Gunga City that was actually safe to land.

The humans stayed by the shore, prepared to wait – possibly for some time – while Jar-Jar went down to meet the Bosses and tell them about the King's wish for an alliance against the invading droid army.

While they were waiting, Obi-Wan noticed that Padme was wearing the same uniform as the other attendants, hiding again, though this time they wore dark mauve tunics over black trousers and high, sturdy boots rather than their flowing, cumbersome robes. Much more practical for running around with a weapon – and every attendant had a blaster secured to their belts. Even the King's wardrobe reflected the less than peaceful situation, being an only slightly more elaborate tunic than the attendants wore, and just as well-armed.

"Sensible, considering the danger," Obi-Wan murmured lowly to the teen while they waited for Jar-Jar to return. "But I get the feeling you're going to want to be the one to talk to the Bosses yourself,"she added.

Padme nodded slightly, but said nothing.

Obi-Wan went to stand by and talk with her Master.

"You really think I'm ready to face the Trials?" Obi-Wan asked softly. There hadn't really been a right time to ask that until this point, and in all truth, this likely wasn't the best either, but it was a moment where everybody was only able to wait for Jar-Jar to return from Gunga City.

"You've been a good apprentice, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, and placed one of his large hands on her shoulder. "And a much wiser person than I am," he added, just a little bit ruefully.

Obi-Wan smiled at that. "Nice of you to finally admit that, Master," she quipped teasingly.

Qui-Gon snorted softly in amusement. "I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight," he offered.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at that. "You foresee?" she repeated, sceptical. "Master 'here-and-now', who has very little inclination towards visions of the future?" she questioned.

"Scamp," Qui-Gon scolded, and tugged on her Padawan braid – now once more one among many, as Obi-Wan had found the time to weave another four slim braids through her hair, all of which were caught up in a tail with the rest of her hair. Only her Padawan braid hung down, perfect for being tugged on by the Jedi Master.

In contrast to Jar-Jar's acrobatic dive into the water – the only display of any co-ordination that the Gungan had given to any of them – he emerged from the water with barely a ripple being left behind him.

He shook off the water a few steps away from the water's edge, and approached the waiting party with a concerned expression.

"There's nobody there. The city is deserted," Jar-Jar declared solemnly. "Some kinda fight me-sa thinks," he added.

"Do you think they might have been taken to the camps?" the King's decoy suggested, concerned.

Captain Panaka shook his head, lips pursed. He'd never given credit to this part of the King's plan to reclaim their planet. "More likely they were wiped out," he countered.

"Me-sa no think so," Jar-Jar denied, poking a finger at the Security Chief in indication that he didn't appreciate the slur on his people that was implied. He wasn't stupid after all. Just a little absent-minded, occasionally spatially unaware, and a bit of a fraidy-frog.

"Can you tell us where they are, Jar-Jar?" Qui-Gon pressed.

Jar-Jar hesitated for a moment. It was the secrets of his people against the reclamation of his home from the invading army. Either way, he was past dead. Would be already if not for the Jedi that was asking him this question.

"When in trouble, Gungans go to Sacred Place," he relented – and in anticipation of the next question-come-request, he made the offer. "Me-sa show you," he said, and started to move off past them all. "Come on, me-sa show you."

~oOo~

It was a long walk before they were met with a Gungan patrol. As luck – or the Force, as there was no such thing really as luck – would have it, the Gungan they were met by was the same one that had greeted the Jedi when they had followed Jar-Jar to Gunga City... an actually surprisingly short time ago.

Captain Tarpals was very civil, all things considered. Or perhaps it was because of things that the humans didn't know about. There had been a vague hint of some kind of history between Jar-Jar and Tarpals, and a mostly-friendly history at that. Kind of... older-brother-ish.

"Jar-Jar," Tarpals groaned at their friend.

"The King want to talk to the Bosses," Jar-Jar explained sheepishly, and gave a nod in the direction of King Amidala.

Tarpals sighed, but nodded. "You-sa goin' to the Bosses anyway," he said, and gave a sharp whistle that brought another Gungan, also on the back of a kaadu (Obi-Wan had found a spare five minutes to look up the many life-forms native to Naboo), into the clearing.

The humans were effectively herded together – not that they'd exactly been spread out before – and escorted off towards the Sacred Place that Binks had told them about. Though whether they were being escorted as tentative guests or as prisoners was something that was up for debate.

"Your honour," Captain Tarpals called from the back of his steed. They had, by this time, past a large number of Gungans. More than any of the Naboo natives had really expected. The two sentient species of the planet didn't interact much if they could help it. "King Amidala of the Naboo."

"H-hello-daddy, Big Boss Nass, your honour," Jar-Jar stammered in nervous greeting.

"Jar-Jar Binks," Boss Nass answered, his voice deep and deeply displeased. "Who-sen ussen others?" he demanded.

Padme's decoy spoke up, though he didn't move otherwise. "I am King Amidala of the Naboo," he said. "I come before you in peace."

"Ah, Naboo biggun," Boss Nass acknowledged. "You-sa bringin' the mechaneeks. You-sa all bombad," he declared derisively.

"We have searched you out because we wish to form an alliance," Padme's decoy continued solemnly.

But Padme saw Boss Nass quite literally turn his nose up, and knew that it was time to do his own bargaining again. He could not approach Boss Nass the way he had the Senate, and he could see that was exactly was his decoy was going to do. He stepped quickly forward, careful of the elaborate head-dress that his decoy wore, even in _this_ situation.

"Your honour," he called out, cutting off his attendant's speech.

The Boss clicked his tongue. "Who-sa this?" he demanded scornfully.

"I am King Amidala," Padme admitted, and fought not to smile even the tiniest bit at the noise of surprise that Jar-Jar made beside him.

And to ignore the worry he could feel coming from his security team.

"This is my decoy," Padme continued with a gesture and a grateful look back to the other teenager who wore the royal garb. "My protection. My loyal bodyguard," he elaborated. "I'm sorry for my deception, but it was necessary to protect myself," he added.

Obi-Wan half thought that comment was half-directed towards her master.

Qui-Gon turned his gaze to his apprentice, his expression silently asking if she had known – because he had not.

Obi-Wan resolutely did not look back, but she knew that was all the admittance her Master needed, and she would probably get a talking-to later. She'd just quip that, as Master of the Living Force, he should really be more aware of his surroundings.

"Although we do not always agree, your honour, our two great societies have always lived in peace," Padme continued earnestly.

"Ah," Boss Nass said, a resonating sound, and an agreement as he folded his arms in front of himself.

"The Trade Federation, with their army of droids, has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build," Padme continued. "If we do not act soon to defend and reclaim our homes, then all will be lost forever. I ask, no, I beg you to help us," the young King said, and went down onto his knees before the Gungan Bosses.

Captain Panaka, Padme's decoy, and Obi-Wan were the first to follow Padme's example, getting down on their knees before the Gungan Bosses. The motion flowed back until all of the humans (and Jar-Jar) were kneeling in the dirt before the amphibious humanoids.

"We cannot reclaim our planet alone," Padme said. "Our fate is in your hands."

For a moment, all were silent, still and tense as Boss Nass' expression became thoughtful, his orange eyes raking over the humans in consideration until he barked out a sharp laugh.

"Ha! Ha! Hahahahaha!" he chortled. "You-sa no thinkin' you-sa greater than the Gungans?" he declared happily.

Padme shook his head slightly, which elicited a happy chuckle from the large Gungan.

"Me-sa like-a this," Boss Nass decided with a grin. "Maybe," he allowed, "we-sa... bein' friends," he agreed, then shook his head noisily, just the same way he had when he had dismissed the Jedi and Jar-Jar from before him. With the difference being that this time it was an expression of happiness, rather than frustration.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan got the honour, however dubious it might have been, of going with Captain Tarpals and a squad of Gungan soldiers to retrieve their animals from Camp Six. They needed their cavalry back, for one thing, and their larger beasts that would haul their catapults and carry their shield generators into battle would also be needed.

For another, slicing down all the droids that guarded Camp Six would be a very welcome warm-up for Obi-Wan. It also gave her a chance to figure out a way of disposing of the rolling destroyer droids that had shield generators.

It turned out that the answer was to get close enough to slice through them. The shield generators that the rolling destroyers employed was resistant to blaster fire, but not to contact by a lightsaber.

While Obi-Wan and the Gungans retrieved the animals, Captain Panaka was on a reconnaissance mission to the cities. His task was to observe the droid army and try and find any reinforcements that he could.

Obi-Wan and the Gungans returned first, successful.

"That was quick," Qui-Gon complimented her when they returned.

"I just protected the Gungans while they got their animals back," Obi-Wan answered easily, even going so far as to shrug nonchalantly. "Captain Tarpals turns out to be quite the thief," she added with an amused smirk. "But I took the opportunity to thin the enemy ranks a bit at the same time, including a couple of destroyers."

Qui-Gon frowned a little. That was very pro-active, and Jedi weren't supposed to be pro-active about eliminating threats through violent means. On the other hand, he knew his Padawan. She had yet to display any emotion in her entire being from the moment she ignited her lightsaber until the time she shut it down. Well, except for determination when she was trying to learn a new manoeuvre. He didn't have to fear her falling to the Dark Side like his previous apprentice had. At least, he didn't think so. She'd rather surprised him with that bounty hunter masquerade of hers back on Tatooine.

No, he was certain of his Padawan. She would be a fine Jedi Knight, and someday a Master. A far wiser one that him. This, he would not doubt.

Captain Panaka returned to them not long after that.

"Everyone's in camps," he declared unhappily. "A few hundred police and guards have formed an underground resistance move though, and I brought as many of the leaders back as I could. The droid army is much larger than we thought," he admitted, and turned to his King. "Your highness, I do not think this is a battle that we can win," he admitted.

"The battle is a diversion," the young King reminded his Chief of Security. "Boss Nass has been refining our rough battle plans while you were gone though," he added. "And don't forget that we also have a plan to minimise losses by taking out the droid control ship."

"The fight for ussen home will be bombad," Boss Nass declared with a slightly worrying, mildly bloodthirsty smile.

"And if many Gungans are killed fighting?" Qui-Gon asked.

"We-sa ready to do our-sen part," Boss Nass affirmed with a thump to his chest.

"And while the Gungans draw the droids away from the cities, _we_ will enter Theed using the secret passages on the waterfall side. Artoo," Padme called upon the one droid that was among their own company.

The little astromech was a handy little fellow to have, and produced a holographic projection of Theed, with a little red line winding through to show the route that they would be taking.

"Once we reach the main entrance, Captain Panaka, I want you or some of the people you brought back to create another diversion so that we can get in," Padme instructed. "Once we're in, what pilots we have will get to their ships so that they can knock out the control ship that's orbiting the planet, and _we_ will capture the Viceroy. I will not have him getting away just to bring another, larger army down on us," he declared firmly.

They would move out in the morning.

~oOo~

The streets of Theed were deserted, save for those few droids that had been kept back by the Viceroy to hold the city, while the main force went to meet the Gungans at the edge of the swamp – they had chosen their battlefield for the ease with which _they_ would be able to fight there, though it was also a good field for the enemy: an open, grassy plain. The droids might have a few issues with grass tangling in their joints, but that would be the worst of their difficulties. Apart from the Gungans themselves, of course.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan followed Padme closely. They were there to protect the King, first and foremost. Well, unless Qui-Gon's attacker from Tatooine showed up, but even then, making sure the King was safe was a high priority.

A signal was exchanged, and the second diversion of the day was unleashed: one of the droid tanks was blown up by a speeder-mounted cannon.

Obi-Wan barely spared a second to wonder where they'd gotten that from, but they were on the move and the King had to be covered, so she could really only spare a single second.

The Neimoidians hadn't changed any of the access codes for getting in or out of the palace, and Padme had them through the automated doors quickly. Then it was off to the hangar. Getting the pilots to their ships was a priority. The droid army had to be disabled.

With a pull of the Force, Obi-Wan gathered up as many of the droids that were in the hangar as she could see and slammed them all together. Of course, that was only the droids she had seen the second she was through the hangar doors, and there were more of them than that. Still, it did make a good dent in their number to have the pile of broken droids down, and providing (admittedly poor) cover for the humans.

"Get to your ships!" Padme ordered over the noise of blaster-fire. The young teen proved himself to be an excellent shot, actually. Every droid he fired at, he hit, and it went down.

Some pilots made it to their ships by dodging around blaster-fire, taking off and taking out a few droids on their way out, others didn't have blaster-fire to contend with for long, as the rest of the droids were all quickly dispatched by the King, his guards (including his attendants and still-disguised decoy), and the two Jedi.

"My guess is that the Viceroy is in the throne room," Padme said once the last of the ships were gone, and the fallen droids were being raided for extra blasters.

"Red group, blue group," Captain Panaka snapped out. "Everybody, this way," he ordered, gesturing to another door leading away from the hangar.

It opened before they reached it, revealing a darkly robed figure that was apparently waiting for them.

"Very dramatic," Obi-Wan quipped. "But his highness is in a hurry, and you're in the way," she added, deliberately droll, and used the Force to lift their adversary out of the way. If she happened to slam him into the ceiling, well, she wasn't too sorry about that.

"Go," Qui-Gon urged the King and his party. "We'll handle this."

Padme nodded and urged his people to hurry out, underneath the foe with the aura that was so disturbing that even those who weren't Force-sensitive could feel it. They had a kingdom, a planet, to reclaim.

"You can't keep him up there forever, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon pointed out once the King and his party were safely past.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I'm fairly sure I could keep him up there until it would be safe for the Council to get here," she offered, even as she released her hold on the black-robed figure, effectively dropping him.

~oOo~

The figure flipped as he fell, a display that was certainly aided by his own manipulation of the Force, and managed to land on his feet.

"Now, before we get to the messy business of trying to dissect each other, let's have the pleasantries," Obi-Wan suggested, even as she removed her robe and palmed her lightsaber. "I'm Obi-Wan, this is my Master, Qui-Gon, and you are?"

"Darth Maul," the... Zabrak answered. Yes, he was a Zabrak. The horns gave it away. Though he looked nothing like Master Koth. Still, definitely Zabrak, as well as being a Sith. Only the Sith called themselves 'Darth' anything. And apparently he used a lightsaber that lit up from both ends of the handle as well.

If Obi-Wan were only meeting him as an opponent on the sparring mats of the Temple, then she'd smile in eagerness at the test before her. This was _not_ going to be a friendly sparring match on the mats though.

Obi-Wan, in an effort to keep the fighting in the hangar where there wasn't a whole lot to make the imminent battle more difficult, leapt over and behind Darth Maul. She struck at the same time as her Master, but the Sith, with his dual-bladed weapon, was able to block them both at once.

Maul's main attention was forward, forcing Qui-Gon back, and back, and as much as he deflected Obi-Wan as well, she was having to chase after them in order to give her support to her Master in the battle.

A side-step manoeuvre brought both Jedi side-by-side once more as they continued to offer blocks and parries in answer to the Sith's attacks.

Maul kicked Qui-Gon in the chest, and from the way the tall man went down with a grunt, there had been some Force in that kick.

Obi-Wan parried all attacks against her Master while he was down, and watched as Maul backed up, away from them, but with a clear intent to continue fighting in his red-and-yellow eyes. This was not a retreat on his part. He was leading them somewhere.

Obi-Wan didn't appreciate that realisation. They couldn't let him get away, just in case he went after King Amidala. More than that though, they couldn't let him get away because he was _Sith_.

As soon as Qui-Gon regained his wind, and his feet, he chased after Darth Maul, and Obi-Wan was right beside him, even if she didn't like that they were being led somewhere by their opponent. And they definitely were. Maul flung a bit of broken droid at the control switch for a set of doors, opening them, and he backed through, keeping his gaze locked on the pair of Jedi.

The Jedi had caught up and were exchanging blows with the Zabrak once more, all at the same time pushing him back and being pulled onward.

Through the doors, the Zabrak kicked Obi-Wan in the stomach, and confirmed her theory that he'd had some Force behind his previous kick to her Master's chest. That kick certainly had, and she had to run to catch up with them.

Her master was too involved in pushing his opponent back to be detached enough to realise he was being led, and there wasn't really spare breath right now for pointing that out.

To anybody else, the place where Darth Maul had led them would look like a dead end. The two Jedi had him on a small dais overlooking the palace's reactor and power-processing plant – an incredible construction that didn't look like anything that belonged in Naboo, and yet kept the entire city of Theed powered.

And Obi-Wan was willing to lay money that their opponent had already had a chance to tweak a few things about the space to suit himself.

Qui-Gon gave a lunge with his blade, and Maul easily flipped away, over the open space and onto a suspended walkway.

Obi-Wan's misgivings aside, she jumped across right along with her Master, and blue and green lightsabers were blocked by red.

Maul continued to lead them, and as they progressed deeper, Obi-Wan decided she'd had enough of being led, and once more jumped over the Sith to block him and try and force him back the way they'd come.

He kicked her off the narrow walkway in retaliation.

She caught herself on the edge of another, but it was some distance down and she was hanging on only by her fingers. As soon as she had stopped swinging from the momentum of the fall, Obi-Wan hauled herself up again.

Thankfully, even though she'd had to let go of her lightsaber in order to catch herself, it had landed on the same platform she had just moments before been clinging to, so she didn't have to go looking for it. She just had to find where the Sith and her Master had gotten to in the time it had taken her to recover from the fall.

The Zabrak was backing up with purpose along the walkway, and Qui-Gon was following. Likely thinking he was pressing an advantage. Men.

Obi-Wan jumped up to the walkway that they were on, and ran after them.

Her eyes widened when she saw a cascade of forcefields open, and the Sith readily back up through the opened pathway. Even as she ran, and she ran as fast as she could, Obi-Wan could feel the Force telling her that she wouldn't reach them in time.

She didn't.

Maul and Qui-Gon were separated by only one shimmering red barrier, but there were five between Obi-Wan and her Master. She was trapped behind the very last of them, and it would be the last to open as well. They would be engaged in battle and all she would be able to do was watch until they opened again, at which point she was determined that she would reach them, and re-join the battle.

Obi-Wan watched her Master kneel in meditation, catching his breath and re-establishing his calm in the moment given to him by the enforced break created by the energy shield. She mimicked his action so far as she deactivated her lightsaber. She did not kneel though. She would need to be on her feet so that she could run, and reach her Master before the cascade blocked her way again.

Except that she didn't.

She didn't have the long stride of her Master, and though she was ready to run to him from the moment the cascade began to open at the far end, she was still cut off by that last energy field, which closed just as she would have reached the combatants.

And she was forced to be a mere spectator as Darth Maul caught her Master with a fist to his nose, and then the blade of the Sith's red lightsaber plunged into Qui-Gon's torso and emerged again through his back. It had certainly severed the spine, and had very likely done extremely permanent damage to at least one vital organ.

But Obi-Wan's lightsaber was lit, and she had no emotions when she faced battle. Even though the man who had been a father to her for the past decade and more lay dying on the other side of the chamber beyond the force field, she did not scream denial. She did not feel resentment burn in her heart against the Sith. She did not fight back tears of loss.

Later, such feelings would come. Later, she would welcome them. She would bask in them. She would endure them and feel them and surrender to them. She would recognise the comfort of the Force as well, and release her emotions freely into it, but later.

Now, her lightsaber was lit, and she had a Sith to kill.


	9. Chapter 9

Ric Olie had managed to get into the hangar of the droid control ship, and even more than that, he'd successfully gotten through to the part of the hold where the main reactor was housed. A quick turn, a couple of quick shots, and he was on his way out again as the station began to blow up from the inside.

He only just made it out without getting cooked himself.

The Gungans had done considerable damage to the droid army, they had just been forced to call a retreat – their shields were completely down – when the control ship was destroyed, and the droid army shut down in front of them.

A gentle push was all that was needed to send the droids collapsing in heaps after that.

King Amidala had reached the throne room, and Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation had been there. His personal guard of droids shot down by Amidala and his attendants, and the door blocked by Captain Panaka, the coward Neimoidian had not been too hard to convince as to the necessity of a new 'treaty' between the sovereign system of Naboo and the Trade Federation.

Obi-Wan felt all of this through the Force, and assured that there was no desperate need for her to return to King Amidala's side, calmly stepped through once the barrier between herself and Darth Maul opened, her lightsaber held low beside her and at the ready.

Her Master was a fine example of a Jedi when it came to lightsaber combat. His own Master had been Dooku, who in his own time had been Padawan to Master Yoda himself. Qui-Gon preferred the fourth form, Ataru, an attacking form, and one that utilised more acrobatics than his slowly advancing age quite entirely appreciated.

Obi-Wan, for all that she utilised every form as the Forced guided her to, also had a personal preference. Oh, the acrobatics of Ataru were fun, and impressive when mastered, but Niman, the sixth form, and Soresu, the third, were the forms she most relied on. Niman for its balance, and Soresu because it was a defensive form.

Of all the forms she studied, the Force called her to give most attention to these. The Jedi were not aggressive until there was no other choice. Soresu was like this. It defended and defended and let no attack through, so that the opponent wore themselves out in their attacking until the Jedi remained. Niman was all about balance, and it was the way of the Force to seek balance.

Obi-Wan followed these dictates in her life, perhaps in ways and manners that were strange to those around her, but she followed them with quiet zeal all the same.

Her attacks in the Niman form were met by Maul, and he replied with his own. His recent victory over the very tall Master gave him confidence in the face of the much smaller Padawan.

Well, he was confident until Obi-Wan cut his lightsaber in two, leaving him only one blade to fight her with. After that, he was momentarily surprised, and then he was angry. He was no less skilled with the single blade though, and silently taunted her any moment they broke apart far enough for him to safely do so.

Obi-Wan did not rise to it. Her blue eyes were slowly greying into insensibility of the physical around her. The Force guided her actions. _Strike here_ , it said. _Jump, duck, block, strike now_.

She was sharply brought back from this oneness when, having broken from a lock against Maul's blade, he used the Force to push her over the edge and down into the chute that occupied the centre of the chamber. A chute that led to a melting pit, judging by the smell.

Obi-Wan was again saved from falling as her hands found something to latch onto. She wasn't sure what it was, she wasn't all that concerned as long as it wouldn't fall off the wall. Above her, Maul stepped up to look down on her, and gently toed her lightsaber over the same edge he had just pushed her.

Obi-Wan didn't need her hands to catch it. The Force prevented her weapon from falling further than the level of her belt, and with the same dexterous manipulation she had learned to use on dice when gambling, she hooked her deactivated blade at her side.

With the strength of the Force in her arms, and its support beneath her, Obi-Wan threw herself out of the chute. An action which certainly caught Darth Maul by surprise, especially since he had been tempting her to fall by slashing his blade across the ledge above her and causing sparks to fly. She didn't doubt that the kick she planted firmly on his nose also surprised him.

Most surprising of all though, was probably the moment when, mid-air, she called her Master's lightsaber into her hand from the floor beside him, and plunged it into the neck of the Sith, and for a moment pinned him to the floor that way.

Maul made a choking noise around the hum of the weapon that pierced him, but it was brief, and he died quickly.

Obi-Wan deactivated the green blade and hung it solemnly on her belt beside her own, then moved to kneel by her Master's form and cradle his head in her lap.

"It's- it's too late," Qui-Gon gasped out as Obi-Wan gently stroked his face.

"I'd kind of figured that Dad," she answered softly, and let the tears of loss begin to burn at her eyes at last. "You couldn't hold out for just a few more days, to see me knighted, could you?" she asked sarcastically as those tears began to run down her face.

"I am sorry, Daughter," Qui-Gon said. "But it seems to be the will of the Force that I join with it today."

"Well, the Force will be with me, and you will be with the Force. I guess you're not really going anywhere then," she suggested, and managed to smile through her tears.

Qui-Gon coughed in a parody of a laugh.

"My girl," he declared, though his voice even weaker than a moment ago. "My Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said, and brought a pale hand up to wipe away at some of her tears and caress her cheek. "My Padawan and treasured daught..."

His hand fell away then, and blue eyes that had always been bright with the Living Force dulled and closed.

Obi-Wan bent and, still crying, kissed her Master's brow in farewell. For a while, she didn't move except to stroke that hair that had always annoyed her in how perfect it was. Now, it was still perfect as he lay dead in her lap, but she didn't begrudge it any more. She might cut a piece to weave later, and find a locket to keep it in. A reminder of her Master, her parent in all but blood. If she was not permitted to keep his lightsaber strapped to her belt alongside her own, then she almost certainly would.

When at last her tears had run their course, Obi-Wan bent to kiss her Master's brow again, then shifted underneath him and lifted his lifeless body into her arms. Sure that she would not drop him, though her Master was so very much larger than herself and she was cradling him to her chest like an infant, Obi-Wan began to slowly walk out of the place where they had done battle against a Sith Zabrak who called himself Maul.

She had to stop several times. She had not been able to clear all of the barriers in the cascade when running unencumbered before, she could not while walking, slowly carrying the body of her Master away from the place where he became one with the Force.

~oOo~

"Mistress Kenobi!" a relieved voice called out as she reached the hangar doors. "We were beginning to... worry..."

Obi-Wan looked up from the face of her Master, which looked so innocent in the repose of death, even with the beard, and saw Padme and his guard stood not far from her, all of them staring at the burden she carried. Many of them with mouths hanging open, others with wide eyes as they swallowed in an effort to not similarly drop their jaws.

"Has communication been re-established?" Obi-Wan asked softly. "There are pressing matters that I must report to the Jedi Council."

"We're still working on it," Captain Panaka supplied. "Shouldn't be more than an hour though," he added.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Then is there somewhere I might be able to lay down my Master's body? I have to fetch the Zabrak from where he lies as well."

"We can do that," Panaka instantly offered. "You can stay with your Master."

Obi-Wan cut him off with a shake of her head. "Thank you Captain, but no. I will see to the man I killed. Where may I lay down the body of my Master?" she asked again.

A gentle, sad little whirr and a couple of low bloops drew Obi-Wan's attention to the little astromech droid that had somehow gotten dragged along with all this madness. R2 rolled forward and chirped a short string of bleeps.

Obi-Wan nodded gratefully to the droid. "Thank you Artoo," she said. "If you're sure it would be alright."  
"It is," Padme said at once. "I don't know where Artoo suggested, but it is," he affirmed. "Please let us escort you."

Obi-Wan bowed her head in deference, and R2 rolled to the fore. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon still in her arms, followed at R2's side, and the rest of the company fell in to form a solemn procession behind them.

R2 led them through the palace and out onto a covered bridge that spanned a truly impressive drop, and connected the main palace with a spindly tower on a single spire of stone.

There was a great stone slab, almost an alter, that stood in prominence in the middle of the open room that greeted them as the past through the tower doors. Obi-Wan glanced back to Padme, checking that it really was permissible, and upon receiving a quiet nod, she set the body of her Master down on the stone table in the centre of the room.

"What is this place?" Obi-Wan asked Padme softly when he came to stand beside her and look down at the remains.

"It is where the beloved leaders of Naboo's past are brought, when they die, to honour their memories before they are cremated," Padme answered, his own voice low. "There is only this space, and the stairs which lead to another platform at the top of the tower, where the cremations take place," he elaborated. "It would be our honour to host Master Qui-Gon's farewell there."

"Thank you," Obi-Wan replied. "But I cannot give a definitive answer to that. Master Yoda will be the one to decide. All the same, I doubt your offer would be refused by him."

Padme remained silent, and for a moment, the King, his attendants, his security, Obi-Wan and R2 simply stood around the room and looked in on the empty shell of a man who had been, for all his many faults, a fine Jedi Master.

Obi-Wan broke the silence at last by taking a deep – slightly sniffly – breath. She bent to kiss her Master's cold brow once more, then bowed to Padme.

"There is still much to do," she said solemnly.

Padme gave an agreeing nod, and everyone filed out of the tower. Yes, there was still much to do, and more dead would be met as it was done, no doubt.

Obi-Wan, back in the chamber where Darth Maul lay dead, knelt by his side solemnly. He had been a Sith, but he had also been a child of the galaxy, a precious life. Obi-Wan cried for the loss of him, one who should have been found by the Temple and raised there at her side. What had his path been, that it had crossed with the Sith?

With sorrow for the innocent child that this Zabrak had once been, Obi-Wan pressed a gentle kiss to the crown of his horned head, then collected him up in her arms, just as she had her Master before, and carried him out to the hangar. His stature was more approximate to her own, so the journey was not as laboured for the disparity. Upon reaching her destination, she laid him down in an out-of-the-way place beside the door, and released her sorrows into the Force at last.

There was a time and a place for all things. At this time, and in this place, it was a time to mourn, to weep, but also a time to heal and find peace. Soon enough, it would be a time to celebrate and laugh, to rejoice at the triumph of the Gungans and the Naboo, as well as the new alliance between them. For now, Obi-Wan looked up at R2, who had followed her with all the loyalty of a baby duck following its mother, and pulled herself to her feet once more.

"I don't remember getting hurt," Obi-Wan told the little droid, "but I think I'd better get checked over, just in case. Shock can numb physical sensations, as well as our emotions."

R2 whistled, turned, and rolled off.

Obediently, Obi-Wan followed him to where the palace physicians were working to assist all those who had returned from the battles injured.

"I was expecting you much sooner, Mistress Jedi," one of the healers informed her with a scolding tone, then softened. "But I can that see you had other things to do before coming here," he added more gently, and brought out a handkerchief from a pocket, which he offered to her.

Obi-Wan accepted, cleaned her face, and then sank into a deep meditation while the man checked her over for injuries as thoroughly as modesty allowed. Considering he was a healer, modesty could be stretched pretty far. Force knew, healers had seen more of Obi-Wan's body than any of the men or women that had entertained thoughts of being her lover for an evening. Then again, those people only saw as much of her body as Qui-Gon had when she'd 'disguised' herself as a bounty hunter on Tatooine. At most.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan's robes were cleaned, mended and returned to the rooms she had been granted in the palace while she indulged in the luxury of a bubble-bath, a box of chocolates, and a datapad with a philosophy text loaded on it. Actually, her robes had been used by the palace tailors to make a pattern with, so now she had an additional four sets of robes, made from different fabrics. One set was even made from reinforced silk, so that she'd have something that was both 'battle ready' _and_ suitable for wearing at the celebratory parade which would be in just a few more days.

A similar set had been made for her Master, for his farewell ceremony. He would be dressed far more finely in death than he had ever been in life.

Communications had been re-established, Coruscant had been contacted, the droids had been cleaned up, and apart from Qui-Gon and the Sith Zabrak, all of the dead had been seen to.

It had been a long two days. Once assured that she herself wasn't in any danger of keeling over from unnoticed injuries, Obi-Wan had gone out to help the recovery effort herself. She did a bit of Force healing here and there, enough to stabilise people until they could be seen to by a qualified healer who really knew what they were doing. She used the Force to move heavy rubble and destroyed Federation craft out of the streets, which allowed others could do the work they needed to.

She dined in the company of King Amidala, his attendants, his security, and his Council of Governors each evening before retiring for the night.

A light tap at the door disturbed her quasi-meditations – she'd get a proper and deep meditation in the next morning. The Jedi Council were due to reach Naboo sometime in the next couple of hours, so hopefully she'd get the chance to meditate with Master Yoda out on one of the palace balconies that overlooked Theed's waterfalls. The Room of a Thousand Fountains in the Temple was beautiful, but was obviously artificial when compared to the natural beauty of Naboo.

Still, the tapping.

"Who is it?" Obi-Wan called out.

The sound of astromech trills answered her, and she smiled.

"Come in R2," she bid easily. "But no recording," she added firmly.

The door that led from her refresher to the rest of her temporary quarters opened, and the little blue-and-white droid rolled in, denying in a series of vehement bleeps and chirps that he would do such a thing as take a recording of a naked Jedi.

Obi-Wan chuckled at that as she pulled the plug and let her bathwater drain away, leaving only the tenacious bubbles and the porcelain sides of the tub to keep her modesty.

"While there's a good number of Jedi that no one wants to see unclothed," Obi-Wan joked with the little droid. "Others... well, others you'd get good money for naked holo-captures of," she said, unable to hold down a smile even though she was speaking in all seriousness. "Sometimes from the Jedi themselves, to keep those pictures from being spread," she added.

Oh, the trouble that Master Windu had gone to, to keep some holo-captures of himself going for a late-night swim in the Fountains from being aired even just within the Temple. Of course he'd been wearing swim-wear, but as he'd been up to his waist in the water, and the room was less than well lit at the time, it was impossible to tell.

Unfortunately for Siri, Master Windu had elected to keep her in line by way of "gracefully withholding the punishment you _should_ get for being out of bed past the curfew for a Padawan not in the field", rather than monetary bribery. He'd also given her some personal training sessions on the mats. Siri had been too exhausted from lightsaber training under Master Windu to even think about getting up to mischief for a solid month.

Ah, the good old days when they were sixteen and stupid.

R2 burbled out a digital chuckle, though he was not privy to Obi-Wan's private thoughts. Then he supplied another series of much more communicative chirps.

"Well... that was sooner than I expected," Obi-Wan allowed, and leapt from her tub of bubbles, foregoing modesty before the little droid completely as she summoned a towel and dried herself quickly.

It seemed that the ship carrying the Masters of the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor Valorum was making its approach into the atmosphere. She needed to be dressed to greet them.

R2 whistled appreciatively as she towelled off the bubbles and collected up her robes.

Obi-Wan laughed, and swiped her palm over the little astromech's optical receiver.

"Flatterer," she answered happily.

Minutes later, she was dressed and had brushed her hair out. There was only her Padawan braid left to deal with. The single section of strawberry-blonde hair longer than the rest as it hung down to her waist and the rest of her hair only brushed her shoulders. She took the strands, and the beads that adorned the braid, in hand, and wove the braid as she hurried out to meet the Masters.

"You really don't believe in elaborate fashions for your hair, do you," Padme quipped softly when she joined him and his entourage at the main entrance of the palace.

"They may look nice, but they take too long," Obi-Wan agreed shortly.

The ship set down in the square before them. The ramp was lowered. The Neimoidians of the Trade Federation were brought out by some of the palace guard.

"Now Viceroy, the time has come for you to go back to the Senate and explain all this," King Amidala informed the much more cowed creature as he stood, austere in flowing robes of emerald green.

"I think you can kiss your trade franchise good-bye," Captain Panaka quipped, completely satisfied with the idea as he escorted the aliens into the custody of the security forces that had arrived with the Chancellor.

Obi-Wan walked on the other side of the Neimoidians, but to meet the Chancellor, as much as to be security escort. Valorum met her at the base of the ramp to his ship, and Obi-Wan bowed to him, as rank and manners dictated.

"How do I properly address a brave young woman who has lost her father?" Valorum asked kindly.

"That is how," Obi-Wan answered simply, and stepped aside so that he could go and meet with King Amidala – and she could greet the Jedi Council.

"Padawan Kenobi," Master Windu began once she had risen from her bow before them. "King Amidala sent us a copy of the security footage of the battle you were part of in the palace reactor levels when he contacted us, and when we requested, he also sent us the footage of your behaviour afterwards."

"To spare you an interrogation, I believe his intention was," Yoda added, a hint of an amused smirk on his face. "Achieved this, he has not. Rather, piqued all of our curiosity instead, your actions have."

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding. She'd expected to be questioned on the duel when the Council arrived. She'd honestly have been more surprised (and possibly a little worried) if one hadn't come, especially if her treatment of Maul had been included in that footage that was past on.

"However," Master Fisto interjected softly, "we also recognise that, through this battle, as well as the recent death of your Master, you have most likely past the Trials of Flesh, Skill and Courage."

"We need to ask a few questions before we can be certain that this is so," Master Piell stated, "and these questions should sate our curiosities as well."

"Should this matter be resolved, you will need to take only the Trials of the Spirit and of Insight," elaborated Master Windu simply. As if such Trials could ever be considered simple.

The Trial of Insight wasn't something to fear. It really required only an attentive mind and a little time, depending on the task that was used for the Trial. It was the Trial of the Spirit that all of the Jedi (rightfully) were tentative of.

The Trial of the Spirit was also informally known as 'facing the mirror', and required the Padawan to meditate deeply and confront their own inner darknesses. Though there was nearly no physical effort involved in this Trial, it was still one of the most dangerous. A meditation as deep as was required for this Trial risked the student not finding their way back to themselves, so a Master was _always_ present to help guide a student back. Generally the whole Council, as they would monitor the Trial. Of course, it was the Council as well that pushed the Padawan being tested to that point past where they least desired to go in their thoughts.

There were accounts that came out, every now and then, when a Padawan failed this trial and woke from the meditation screaming, broken in their minds by the horrors that had confronted them when they were sent to face the darkness within themselves.

Obi-Wan didn't know what she would find when they led her through that Trial, but she would face it all the same.

"That will wait until we return to the Temple though," Master Windu asserted calmly. "You've already made an early start on your Knight Trials, Padawan Kenobi. We said a week. It has barely been five standard days."

Obi-Wan could only bow to that. Literally. Really, what do you say when you get told off like that? What can you say without looking like an idiot?

King Amidala offered the Jedi Council a set of chambers in the palace, and a communal room for their 'interrogation' of Obi-Wan. An interrogation that led them all to be satisfied she had completed three of her Trials, and which ended in time for the evening meal – and that including a time taken to examine the body of Maul as well.

After which, Qui-Gon's farewell was held. Master Windu solemnly lit the pyre that held a man who had been his creche-mate, now so long ago. They hadn't gotten along for the past few years, but they had been the dearest of friends, once.


	10. Chapter 10

With the time of mourning still clinging to all of Theed like a damp shroud, and since the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor were all present at last, the parade to celebrate the new alliance between the Gungans and the people of Naboo was finalised. It would take place the very morning after Qui-Gon Jinn's farewell and burning.

The Gungan army paraded through the city. Drums were drummed in perfect time, horns were blown in harmony, and behind them all came some young female Gungans, dancing and singing a wordless but happy song.

Lined up along the sides of the main thoroughfare, the people of Naboo cheered for the spectacle before them, and from balconies above the streets, children threw petals out to add to the joyful atmosphere.

Boss Nass, Captain Tarpals, and Jar-Jar all dismounted their beasts when they reached the palace steps, and ascended to stand with the representatives of Naboo, the Galactic Senate, and the Jedi Council.

King Amidala accepted a glowing orb from Governor Bibble and reverently handed it over to Boss Nass – who in his turn held it high above his head and proclaimed "Peace!" to all present with an enthusiastic smile.

"Wahoo!" Jar-Jar cheered, a sentiment that was shared by all of the beings standing in the streets of Theed that day.

Even most of the Jedi Council smiled, rather than maintaining their solemnity. After all, peace was one of the things that the Jedi strove to uphold throughout the universe, and here it was being realised. It was a good day to bask in the Living Force.

Obi-Wan smiled. Whatever other opinions she had about armies, she did enjoy a military parade. It was something to do with the way they drummed that no other band ever got quite the same.

Before long though, the parade of Gungans was dissolved in favour of a great dance, the musicians – Gungan and human alike – took their places on the palace steps.

Hands were linked in friendship as the two sentient races of Naboo danced around the square in a winding snake of a line, every face lit with a smile and all eyes sparkling with barely contained joy as they celebrated their freedom together.

Yes, the shroud of mourning was thrown off. The time for joy had returned to Naboo, and that joy was in even greater abundance than it had been before.

"Do Jedi dance?" King Amidala asked Obi-Wan, a hand held hopefully out, palm-up.

"Not in front of Masters," Obi-Wan answered with a smile, even as she slipped her hand into his and gave Master Yoda a wink. "Unless the Masters are dancing as well."

The little Trog chuckled, and waved them off, and even turned to the other Trog on the Jedi Council, Master Yaddle, and offered her his hand to dance and join in the celebrations.

"I take it that means we're not all going to be able to get away with being stoic representatives of the Jedi Order," Master Windu complained softly to Master Mundi.

Mundi chuckled softly in agreement, but otherwise said nothing. Especially he said nothing when Master Tyvokka offered his paw to Master Gallia and led her to dancing as well.

"You just don't like admitting that, graceful as you are with a lightsaber, you've two left feet when it comes to dancing," Master Billaba quipped across to Master Windu, and accepted Master Fisto's hand to dance, which effectively left the remaining six male members of the Jedi Council without anyone to request a dance from, even if they had been inclined.

That didn't stop Boss Nass from joining in dancing with Obi-Wan and King Amidala though, the three of them forming a joyful little line with the young Jedi in the middle. A clearer display of friendship between the three factions – humans of Naboo, Gungans, and Jedi – could not have been given.

~oOo~

When she had completed her Trial of Insight, Master Windu went with Obi-Wan to the apartment she had shared with Qui-Gon when they weren't out in the field. While Obi-Wan would be collecting up all of her own meagre belongings to be transferred to new quarters as soon as she had completed the last of her Trials, Master Windu gathered up those things that Qui-Gon had collected over the years. The apartment was to be stripped, and then it would be given to another Jedi. One with a Padawan to care for.

Once everything was packed up in boxes – Obi-Wan didn't know what would become of her Master's possessions, save that Master Yoda had granted she could keep his lightsaber – and Obi-Wan's own effects were slung over her shoulder in a bag, she followed behind the Master towards the Council Chambers.

It was time for her to face the mirror.

Her belongings were left outside of the chamber while she knelt in the centre of it, facing Master Yoda. He would guide her in her meditation, though all of the Masters would monitor her.

Obi-Wan began by emptying herself to the Force, basking in the flowing eddies of light that swirled around her very being.

"Deeper, you must go," Yoda reminded her. "And within yourself this time, not the Force."

Deeper. Obi-Wan let go of the Force and turned herself inward. Deeper. Into the very depths of herself where she did not like to dwell.

Yoda gently guided as pushed her towards that place, and then it was as though her mind had opened up before her and she stood upon a beach. The sand was grey-brown, the water was a dark blue that did not look inviting, and she was not the only one there.

"You're trying to find something that isn't there," Obi-Wan heard her own voice say as it came from the red-painted mouth of the other figure standing on that beach. Indeed, the figure was her own mirror image, but also so very different. There were blasters hooked at her hips beside the lightsabers. The trousers were so much tighter, and the shirt was a much skimpier thing than Obi-Wan usually wore when pretending to be a bounty hunter.

"Oh, you noticed," the other Obi-Wan said with a smile. "Yes, I'm the naughty little part of you that you tap into when you need to make a deal with unsavoury people. That's what I am. The part of you that doesn't care about anybody else. The part of you that sees everybody only as tools to be used and doesn't give a damn two ways about it, so long as you get what you want. The part of you that isn't afraid to simply takeit."

"Sociopath," Obi-Wan breathed softly.

The darker version of herself laughed happily. "That really is such an interesting word," she quipped with a red-painted smile. "Yes, the part of you that simply switches off all emotions when you duel with your lightsaber, so that you feel no regrets, no pain, only sometimes the adrenaline as it rushes through your blood. But I'm not just that. I'm the part of you that questions. The part of you that went looking for Revan's holocron and spent simply hours awake at night discussing philosophy with the Jedi that became a Sith. The part of you that is fascinated by the forbidden knowledge, and begs to know why it is forbidden," she continued, her eyes flashing momentarily yellow in wicked delight.

"The part of my that sees hypocrisy everywhere too, I suppose," Obi-Wan suggested.

The dark lensed copy nodded amiably.

Obi-Wan breathed deeply, and considered the figure before her. "Well," she said at last. "I suppose I don't have to worry too much about falling to the Dark Side," she mused.

The darker Obi-Wan lifted a manicured and darkly painted brow – a vanity that Obi-Wan had never indulged in. "Oh?" she asked as she moved to study her nails carelessly. "How do you figure that?" The question was apathetically asked.

"The Dark Side is passionate," Obi-Wan said plainly. "At my darkest, it seems that I am only apathetic and disdainful."

The other Obi-Wan smirked and applauded. "Oh, very clever," she praised, but then she stepped closer, right up into Obi-Wan's personal space, and lay a cold hand over Obi-Wan's heart. "No, you don't have to concern yourself with such a fall. You are too shining, too light. At your very darkest, when we reach out past the confines you keep me locked away behind and touch each other, you are only merely grey. But to feel nothing for anyone? Is that really so much better than hating them all?" she asked curiously.

"Infinitely," Obi-Wan answered instantly. "So, my deepest shade of grey," she said, and reached up to catch the other Obi-Wan's hands and twist them. "What do I have to fear from you?" she demanded calmly. "You will never control me," she declared firmly.

The painted, smiling lips and the skimpy clothes suddenly cracked, like glass that had been struck with a stone, and with a last, approving nod to her, the entire figure shattered in Obi-Wan's grip.

The sand was still a grey shade of brown, and the water was still dark with depth, but the chill air had warmed, and Obi-Wan could feel Master Yoda calling her back to him. Back to herself.

A deep breath. She opened her eyes.

"Past this Trial, I would say she has," Master Yaddle offered softly. "And with flying colours."

There was not one disagreement among the Council. It was a rare thing for them, when conducting this Trial, that the most true darkness within the Padawan should be so tempered with light. That it should be so rational and even-tempered – to not reach for any of the weapons it carried, to not try and seize control through brute force... It frightened them a little, but not as much as it also brought comfort to them. Obi-Wan Kenobi would be a great Jedi. Some day she would be a Master, but for now... for now she was to be awarded the rank of Jedi Knight.

"You will meditate tonight in the Tranquillity Spire," Master Fisto directed. "Tomorrow, you will be knighted."

Obi-Wan was still kneeling before the Masters, but that did not stop her from bowing to them in solemn gratitude for their assessment of her readiness.

~oOo~

News always spread quickly in the Temple, and by the time Obi-Wan reached the heart of Tranquillity Spire, her friends were all at the door of the chamber and waiting for her. Siri, Bant, Garen, Reeft and Quinlan – and for once, not one of them wore anything more or less than the most standard form of the Jedi robes.

"It was about time your Master nominated you for the Trials," Quinlan said plainly. "You're the last of us to have endured them."

Obi-Wan knew that. Quinlan had been the first – he even had a Padawan of his own now – then Siri was next. Bant and Reeft had been Knighted close together. Garen had been the last, apart from her, and he'd taken his trials a year before. She hadn't been impatient to advance, but she knew that all of her friends had been impatient for her. Most of them didn't approve of the way Master Jinn had treated her.

Oh, he was father to her at the last, certainly, but it had taken a very long time for them to reach that point in their relationship, and Qui-Gon had always been very critical, as though being a hard taskmaster for her would make up for his indulgent lassitude with his previous, fallen, Padawan.

"We will meditate with you," Siri informed Obi-Wan, arms crossed over her chest. She would brook no argument.

Obi-Wan offered none, rather only nodded in silent, grateful acceptance and led her friends into the chamber where they had all done this before. It was a tradition among them since Siri had been sent here before her knighting. They would come in their plainest robes and meditate together. Some Padawans, when they were joined by their friends in the Tranquillity Spire, talked together, speaking of the Trials they had just endured.

They did not. Conversation such as that could be had later. They were not the most obedient of Jedi in the Temple, but they were not the sort to shirk meditation when it was required of them either. Even Siri and Quinlan, party animals that they were when given the chance, took their times of meditation seriously.

Especially since, once the Masters had finished scolding them for not, a seven-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi had used her floating meditation stones to clock them both on the heads as a lesson to not be disruptive when _she_ was meditating.

Inside the chamber, Obi-Wan settled herself down in the centre of the room, and her five friends took their places equidistant from each other around her. Meditation stones slowly and smoothly rose into the air around them, and began to weave around in a half-dozen different orbits. Minds calmed and opened to the guidance of the Force, seeking to understand the paths that would be laid before them.

~oOo~

The Masters ignited their lightsabers, giving light to their circle around the young woman. The luminous blades were held straight up, and each figure stood tall and straight. Well, they all stood straight at least. Some were naturally more vertically challenged than others, but they each stood as tall as their species allowed.

"Step forward, Padawan," Master Yoda instructed, his lightsaber held at the ready beside him. He was the only one of the Masters to not have the hood of his outer robe drawn up. He was also the only one standing on his chair.

Obediently and silently, Obi-Wan moved to kneel before the Grand Master, and bowed her head – an action which allowed her waist-long Padawan brain to fall freely forward. The rest of her hair was tied back in a tail, low against her neck, so that it would not be in the way.

Master Yoda raised his lightsaber, and the glowing blades of the other Masters lowered to point to the floor.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Master Yoda intoned. "By the right of the Council," he said, and lowered the humming weapon to rest just above her right shoulder. "By the will of the Force," he continued, and moved his blade over her head to hover over her left. "Dub thee, I do," he stated, and again moved his lightsaber back to hover by Obi-Wan's right ear. "Jedi -" with a well controlled flick, he sliced off her Padawan braid from behind her ear. "- Knight of the Republic."

Around the circle of Masters, the lightsabers were raised once more. This time, in salute to the new Knight of their Order.

Obi-Wan stared for a moment at the length of hair that now lay on the floor before her before finally she stood. She was a Jedi Knight.

Master Yoda lifted her braid from the floor through use of the Force and presented it to her.

"With this, do what you will," he instructed kindly.

Most Padawans gave their braids to their Masters as a sign of respect and gratitude for the teaching they had received. But Qui-Gon Jinn was dead, and though Masters Yoda and Windu had also both given her instruction over the years, giving her braid to either one didn't feel right. For now, she would simply keep it for herself.

~End Part One~


	11. Chapter 11

~The Intervening Years Part 1~

"You glow with a strong, bright presence in the Force," a low, soft voice commented appreciatively as Obi-Wan drew herself out of her meditation.

She had left her newly assigned rooms that day for the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and upon opening her eyes, she was confronted with the sight of her Master's Master, Dooku, as well as Master Sifo-Dyas. It was the latter that had spoken.

"Masters," Obi-Wan greeted respectfully, and bowed her head.

Master Dooku only gave her a brief nod before he sent an almost scathing look to his fellow Master and left them.

Master Sifo-Dyas sighed wearily as he watched the other man go. "May I join you?" he requested.

"I would be honoured," she answered, and gave an easy, inviting gesture.

Master Sifo-Dyas knelt down directly across from Obi-Wan and rested his hands on his thighs. He breathed deeply in, and slowly released that breath.

"Dooku is disenchanted with the Jedi way," Master Sifo-Dyas confided. "He is leaving us, and at a time when I can feel that we would welcome his skill with the lightsaber more than any other time yet that we have lived. This Sith... The shadows grow longer," he said with a frustrated sigh. "And they have been growing for some time!" he added, frustration showing through. "The Council do not listen to the concerns of anybody though, even when there is proof to support them."

Obi-Wan cocked her head to the side and considered the Master that, before her very eyes, proved himself to be as human and fallible as any other being.

"Are you going to do something, foolish, reckless, dangerous, and secretive in order to have back-up when the galaxy blows up in our faces?" she asked, a tiny bit amused as she considered the man before her.

"No," Master Sifo-Dyas answered. "I'm going to do something well thought-out, expensive, and secretive," he added in correction, and sighed deeply again. "I'm going to go to Kamino."

To Obi-Wan, it sounded as though, until that moment, the Jedi Master had not actually made that decision.

Abruptly, the Master rose to his feet once more.

"Force be with you, Knight Kenobi," he bid.

"May the Force be with you, Master," she answered. When he was gone from the Room of a Thousand Fountains, Obi-Wan also rose to her feet. She made her way to the Archives, however, instead of the Hangar. She hadn't ever heard of Kamino before, and her curiosity was piqued.

A month after this, Obi-Wan was surprised to feel the death of Master Sifo-Dyas, and petitioned the Council to let her investigate his passing.

It was granted. Obi-Wan collected the Star Map that she had copied from the Archives, as well as the 'just in case' kit that she had taken to carrying everywhere ever since she had been made Qui-Gon's Padawan, and took off.

~oOo~

"Your arrival is quite surprising, Mistress Jedi," the Kaminoan who greeted him said, though her voice was pleasant.

"I apologise," Obi-Wan said instantly. "I came looking for Master Sifo-Dyas," she continued. "Or directions to him, if he has left your lovely planet already," she added, even as she shivered from the chill of the water that had so quickly soaked through her robes all the way down to her skin.

"Master Sifo-Dyas left us last week," the Kaminoan replied, as she waved for Obi-Wan to come inside out of the weather.

As soon as she was no longer being pummelled by water from every direction, Obi-Wan turned on her little recording device – and action hidden by delicately wringing out her clothes over the wet-grill that the Kaminoan quietly indicated.

"He went to search out a suitable genetic material for the clone army he requested of us," the Kaminoan said once Obi-Wan had stopped dripping too dramatically. "The sample has not come yet, but the programming the clones will go through is still being finalised. Master Sifo-Dyas left us before that was completed," she added, a hint of censure in her tone.

Obi-Wan did her best to offer a smile that was both comforting and non-condescending. "Perhaps I can help with that?" she offered. "And do you require a whole specimen, or will only a sample be sufficient to create the clones from?"

Aware of what she was planning, the Force laughed within her. A grand joke, it seemed to be saying.

"A sample will be sufficient," the Kaminoan agreed, "and we would be most grateful to have your assistance in finalising the programming that the clones will receive."

Swallowing tightly, Obi-Wan did something impulsive but which the Force approved of: she produced her sheared off Padawan braid and offered it to the Kaminoan.

"This is...?" she asked as she fingered the woven hair delicately.

"Mine," Obi-Wan answered. "Will that be sufficient?"

"Oh yes," the Kaminoan replied, her eyes wide as she studied the length of hair more intently. "We- we have never cloned a Jedi before. We do not know if the clones will have your same ability with the Force," she warned.

Obi-Wan smiled slightly. "It will be interesting to find out," she pointed out, "though I have a feeling they will be. If Master Sifo-Dyas sends another to be used to make up the clone army, then I see no reason why both my offering and the Master's choice could not be used."

The Kaminoan nodded regally in agreement, and with Obi-Wan's Padawan braid held reverently in one hand, she led the way to where the programming of the clones was still being worked out.

When Obi-Wan left Kamino two days later (with directions as to the destination Master Sifo-Dyas had mentioned to them before he left), it was with the promise to return every two years to check on the progress of the clone army, and instruct them in how to use the Force, should the clones be Force-sensitive as Obi-Wan suspected they would be.

She was going to get in so much trouble for this from Master Tiin, she just _knew_ it. She was also probably going to have to scrub Master Yoda's floors with her own toothbrush until they were mirror-shiny. She couldn't hide this from them either, since she'd need their permission to return every two years as she had promised the Kaminoans.

~oOo~

"It's the hero!" Siri cheered as Quinlan came down the ramp of his ship.

Garen grabbed his friend up and (with a little help from the Force) had him held aloft, riding on his shoulder.

Obi-Wan smiled up at her friend, and mentally calculated how much that evening's celebration would cost. For the man who had prevented the Nightsisters from destroying Coruscant with the Infinity Gate of one of the Star Temples, everything would be free. Which meant his friends would be picking up the tab.

"As hero of the hour, I demand a kiss!" Quinlan declared, and shot a falsely lecherous grin towards Obi-Wan, waggling his eyebrows.

Obi-Wan rolled her eyes. "Hero or not, I'm not kissing you Quinlan," she informed him pertly.

"I will," Siri offered with a grin. "But you'll have to get down from Garen's shoulder first."

"And out of the Temple," Bant added in a wry, reasonable tone. "You two really don't need another scolding from the Masters about inappropriate behaviour where Younglings might see."

Quinlan and Siri both winced at the reminder. Last time they'd started to 'let loose' before they'd actually left the Temple, Master Poof had found them. That had been a distinctly uncomfortable experience for the pair.

As had the punishment been afterwards.

~oOo~

"Anakin!" Shmi called back into the house within a breath of opening her front door. "Mistress Kenobi is here!"  
A crash sounded from somewhere further into the house, and both women winced.

"I'm alright!" a young voice shouted back to them.

Shmi laughed softly and shook her head in fondness. "Please come in, Mistress Kenobi," she invited with a smile, and stood aside from the door.

"It's good to see you again, Shmi," Obi-Wan answered with a smile. "But Obi-Wan, please. We're too close to the same age for titles. At least, I think we are," she added.

Shmi laughed, and led the way into her kitchen. "Tea?" she offered.

"That sounds wonderful," Obi-Wan agreed. "How are you enjoying Corellia?" she asked. "For that matter, how are you enjoying freedom?"

Shmi smiled back at Obi-Wan as she set the water to boil. "I love it, in answer to both of your questions," she replied happily.

"Mistress Kenobi!" Anakin yelled with delight as he came careening into the kitchen from another part of the house, a grin nearly splitting his young face in two. "You're here!"  
"I told you, I'd be sent here every two years," Obi-Wan reminded the child easily as she scooped him up into a hug.

"But you didn't ever just come and visit," Anakin pointed out unhappily.

"Other missions for the Order keep me busy most of the rest of the time, which is why I don't visit more often," she apologised. "Why, just last year, I went on a mission all the way out past the Outer Rim," she informed the child, putting on a wide-eyed expression as she began her tale.

"Really?" Anakin breathed, awed, and plopped himself down in the seat immediately to her right.

Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. "I had to find out what had happened to a Master of the Temple whose death had been felt. His last known destination was _very_ far away. Even with a really good hyperdrive, it still took me the better part of five days to get out there," Obi-Wan elaborated.

"Wow," Anakin exclaimed softly, his eyes wide.

"And you know what I found when I got there?" she asked him.

"What?" Anakin begged.

"He'd left," Obi-Wan stated with put-on affront. "I'd missed him by a week."

Anakin laughed.

"Were you able to find out what had become of this Master?" Shmi asked gently.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Killed," she replied solemnly.

"But-" Anakin protested. "But... no one can kill a Jedi!" he objected.

Obi-Wan shook her head. "We die just the same as anybody else," she corrected. "Do you remember my Master? Master Qui-Gon Jinn?"

Anakin and Shmi both nodded.

"He was killed two years ago," Obi-Wan admitted frankly. "Of course, not even being dead keeps my Master down," she added with a wry curl to her lips.

Shmi was clearly confused and curious, but little Anakin's whole face frowned.

"Master Qui-Gon became a ghost," Obi-Wan confided in a loud, dramatic whisper. "It's really very annoying, because he can snitch on me when I'm out of the Temple having fun with my friends a lot faster now than he used to be able to."

That got Anakin to giggle again, even if it wasn't exactly the truth. Oh, Master Qui-Gon could snitch on her a lot faster now, but he wasn't any more inclined to now than he had been in life. He'd just give her a lecture about being disciplined while she was trying to enjoy a glass of Jawa juice, instead of that being something for her to look forward to when she got back to the Temple.

"Now, tell me how your classes are going," Obi-Wan requested with a more easy smile as she accepted the cup of tea that Shmi passed her then.

"It's great!" Anakin enthused instantly. "I've made some great friends, and I'm top of my class, and I got extra credit from Professor Antilles when I finally finished my pod racer!"

"It's finished? That's great Anakin," Obi-Wan praised with a smile. "Fastest ever?" she asked.

"You bet it is!" Anakin boasted. "And next, I'm gonna build a swoop bike!"

Obi-Wan whistled lowly.

"He's giving me grey hair," Shmi declared with bland firmness. "But swoop races are at least a little safer than pod racing."

"I thought that giving their mothers grey hair was just what sons did?" Obi-Wan queried innocently, though the smile that she didn't quite restrain gave the game away.

But it got Shmi to laugh again at least.

"Oh! And I finished Threepio!"

~oOo~

Obi-Wan had just been dropped off on Corellia by a transport ship that was something of the equivalent of an interplanetary bus. She had been given instructions to organise her own ride back to Coruscant, as well as some funds to facilitate it. With the Corellian Engineering Corps there, if a person couldn't get a ship to take them off-world, then they weren't trying hard enough.

All the same, Obi-Wan enjoyed spending a couple of days with the Skywalkers. She cooked the meals, giving Shmi a break from at least one of the chores around the house, and was happy to mind Anakin as he tinkered with bits of junk until they turned into something that worked.

"... and the latest in the Why-Tee series just came out," Anakin was rambling as he worked on his homework at the kitchen table. "The twelve-hundred. We all got to look at the basic specs in class today. The price tag on one is a hundred-thousand credits, and I honestly don't think it's gonna sell real well. The long cockpit just looks too dorky to me. I think the ten-hundred is much better, and since it's not going to be made any more, it'll be cheaper as well. On the other hand, the whole Why-Tee series is good as a basic ship to modify any way you want."

Obi-Wan silently filed that information away for use later. After all, if she was going to have to make regular trips from Coruscant to Corellia and Kamino, she wanted a ship of her own.

"Are you telling me you're thinking of buying a ship, rather than building a custom thing completely from scratch?" she asked the boy teasingly.

"I bet I could," Anakin said.

"And I'm sure that some day, you will," Obi-Wan countered with a smile. "And you'll visit every system in the galaxy. You already built your pod racer from scratch, how much harder could a whole ship be?" she asked teasingly.

"A lot harder," Anakin replied, but his smile was clearly a demonstration of how eager he was for the challenge. Then it melted away. "A lot more expensive too," he added a little despondently.

Obi-Wan set a hand on the boy's shoulder and waited for him to look her in the face.

"So it's going to take time," she said gently. "You didn't get your pod built all at once, did you?"

Anakin shook his head.

"Then don't expect the ship to happen fast. Draw up lots and lots and _lots_ of designs. Save up your money while you plan. Don't rush," she advised. "You have all of your time at school to get through before you can think of flying off and away in any event," she reminded him.

Anakin thought about that for a moment, then nodded in solemn agreement. It was really very cute on the eleven-year-old.

"Now get back to your homework," Obi-Wan instructed with a smile.

Anakin nodded again, and hunched over the kitchen table once more.

Contentment hummed all around her in the Force. Yes, this was right. Anakin was thriving in school, learning about all the things he loved. He wasn't training to be a Jedi, which he had wanted so much only a couple of years ago, but it looked like that dream had been well and truly replaced.

~oOo~

"Siri?"

"In here Obi-Wan!" Siri called back from a bit deeper within her apartment.

Obi-Wan tightened her grip on the object in her hand, and determinedly moved through the apartment to stand at her friend's bedroom door.

"Ugh, I'm glad the Council gave me this mission now, rather than last week. Could you imagine what Quinlan would have been like if I'd missed being in Coruscant for his promotion to Master status?" Siri complained lightly as she stuffed articles into her bag.

"Probably even more upset than he was when I came back the day after his Padawan got Knighted," Obi-Wan suggested wryly. "Here," she said, and extended her hand out to her preoccupied friend.

Siri stopped her packing to look up.

"What is it?" she asked warily, though she was smiling.

"Holo-recorder," Obi-Wan answered with a smile.

"No way!" Siri objected as she looked at the object sitting innocently in the middle of her friend's palm. "It's way too small to be a holo-recorder!"

"Between Reeft, me, and that little genius I got the Council to sponsor over on Corellia, we managed to get it small enough to be able to record sneakily," Obi-Wan explained happily. "They're not going to be made available to the general public just yet, but they'll be good for Jedi in the field."

"Especially Jedi on infiltration missions like the one I'm being sent on," Siri agreed as she continued to stare at the button-sized thing. In fact, it was mounted in such a way that it could be disguised as a button very easily.

"Force be with you, Siri," Obi-Wan said as her friend accepted the gift.

Siri finally tore her eyes away from the tiny piece of technology. "And with you, Obi-Wan," she answered. "You're going to be sent after Knight Vergere, aren't you?"

"If she doesn't make contact before I get back from Kamino," Obi-Wan agreed with a nod. "Since Kamino is nearer to Zonama Sekot than Coruscant."

"Well, at least the Council agreed that you could buy your own ship when you get back," Siri reminded her. "Any specific model you're going to look for?"

Obi-Wan smiled slightly. She was going to take little Anakin's advice – not that he'd really known he'd given it to her at the time – and buy a YT-1000.

~oOo~

"Welcome back, Jedi Kenobi."

"It is good to see you again, Taun We," Obi-Wan answered with a smile. "I trust that you have been well?"

"Oh yes," the Kamioan agreed as she waved the human inside. "But tell me, did you find Master Sifo-Dyas?"

"I found only his remains," Obi-Wan replied. It was a good thing he had paid for this army before he left Kamino, or that pronouncement might have caused some problems. "I was unable to learn if he found a specimen for you before he died," she added.

Taun We smiled slightly. "A short while after you left, another came," she offered. "A Mandalore who said he had been sent to be the base for the army."

Obi-Wan blinked at that. "A Mandalore would certainly be a strong genetic base," she agreed. "Is the programming the same?" she asked as they walked.

"We have removed the parts of the programming that were pertinent to the use of the Force, which your clones have proven to need," Taun We replied, and there was a hint of delight in her tone. "But otherwise, yes, the programming is exactly the same."

Obi-Wan nodded. Good. That was good.

"I obtained permission from the Jedi Council to supply you with a lightsaber," Obi-Wan stated, and reached into her robes for the lightsaber that had belonged to Master Sifo-Dyas. "Which you may use as a guide to create more, for the Force-sensitive clones. How are they coming?"

"I was wondering when you would ask," Taun We replied. "They are coming along well, though of course some modification had to be made. The human female reproductive cycle does not mix well with our growth accelerators."

Obi-Wan nodded her understanding. Yes, she could see how the two would disagree with each other.

"It will still be another eight years before the first batch is ready," Taun We said frankly. "But we did tell you that already."

"I had not forgotten," Obi-Wan agreed. "I also brought a training holocron, which can be used to teach the clones how to use the lightsaber in my absence."

"That will be very much appreciated," Taun We said. "Using a lightsaber is much more difficult an art than using a blaster."

Obi-Wan refrained from answering beyond a polite inclination of her head. Much as she sometimes did carry a blaster, and was a perfectly good shot with one, she still found them uncivilised. Some people had just as hard a time using a blaster as a blade though.

"Is the Mandalore still here?" she asked instead.

"He has quarters," Taun We replied. "But he frequently leaves due to the demands of his other work, and is not here at this time."

"Perhaps I'll be fortunate enough to meet him the next time I come."

"The unaltered clone he asked for for himself remains here though," Taun We added. "If you would like to meet him."

Obi-Wan blinked, and for a moment was silent. "Yes," she decided soon after. "Yes, I would like that very much."


	12. Chapter 12

~The Intervening Years Part 2~

A month on Kamino was spent alternately drilling her clones in lightsaber forms and enjoying the company of little Boba Fett and the Kaminoans before the time came for Obi-Wan to check in with the Jedi Council and determine her destination.

Knight Vergere had contacted them. It was not an encouraging message, as she was effectively proclaiming herself to be one of the Lost in her transmission, but contact had been made.

Obi-Wan returned to the Temple, where she was granted some down-time. Enough down-time to go looking for a ship she could call her own.

She stripped off her outer robes and set a couple of blasters at her hips. She was going down to the lower levels of Coruscant to hunt down the ship she wanted. That hunt took her five hours, and ultimately cost her exactly twenty-thousand credits.

"It's a hunk of junk," Garen complained to her frankly when he returned from a mission of his own to find her half-way up the ladder that she'd propped against the side of her ship, a cleaning rag in one hand.

"It was the only Why-Tee Ten-hundred that I could find that hadn't been heavily modified already," she replied easily as she scrubbed away at some of the space-dirt that was making the ship look even older than it actually was with a distinctly unhappy expression on her face. She really didn't like cleaning. "I'm actually looking forward to doing that myself."

"Uh-huh," Garen said sceptically. "And how are you even going to fly this thing?" he asked. "It looks to me like the kind of ship that needs a co-pilot."

"That's where some of the modification is going to come in," Obi-Wan confessed. "It'll probably take me a couple of years to get it to the point where I can fly it by myself."

"And you'll have other missions to do in the mean-time," Garen pointed out. "So what then?"

"So then I'll use the same transport methods that I have in the past," Obi-Wan stated firmly.

Garen sighed in frustration with his friend. "Alright," he capitulated. "What are you going to call this junker when you're done?" he asked.

"Not sure yet. Oh hey, have you heard about this 'Outbound Flight' project?" Obi-Wan said, completely changing the topic.

Garen snorted. "Yeah. It's being headed up by _Master C'baoth_ ," he returned. "Can't think of anybody less ideal for this sort of project. On the other hand, maybe it's a subtle way to get rid of the puffed up old fart."

"Now now, Knight Muln," Obi-Wan scolded with a smile. "Be respectful of the Master, you wouldn't want him to hear you talking like that about him."

"Some people can't handle honesty," quipped Quinlan, all geared up and ready to leave on a mission. "Obi-Wan, why did you choose this scrap-heap when the Masters agreed to let you have your own personal ship?"

"There was some prompting involved," Obi-Wan replied with a smile, and let her friends think she meant guidance from the Force, rather than just the most Force-sensitive kid she'd ever met. "And so Master C'baoth has a superiority complex. It's hardly his fault. Someone, sometime, must have taught him to think that way."  
Garen winced. "Ugh, yeah, and that's the most disturbing part of the whole thing," he grunted. "So what that we're Jedi. That doesn't mean everybody else is inferior and below us."

"No, the most disturbing part is that Master C'baoth wants to take Younglings from the Temple with him, along with the Masters he claims will be needed to get through the hyperspace barrier around the Known galaxy," Bant interjected. She'd come to welcome Garen back and see off Quinlan, with the bonus of checking on Obi-Wan at the same time.

"You're both wrong," Quinlan protested frankly. "It's that they're talking about sending an expedition into the Unknown Regions when we haven't even explored all of the Known Regions yet."

Obi-Wan smiled. This was why she valued her friends so much: they didn't hold themselves as above the various races that they worked with just because of their Jedi status, nor did they get upset and short-mannered with each other if they held different views. Too many Jedi _did_ , and it frankly worried Obi-Wan sometimes. Just like she sometimes worried about the Temple raising sociopaths within its halls.

~oOo~

"And who is this?" Obi-Wan asked with a smile as she followed Shmi into her house and spotted the baby that was in a high-chair at the table.

"Oh, this is little Han Solo," Shmi answered with a smile. "My next-door neighbour just needed me to take him for a couple of hours. She hasn't been getting any sleep since this little scoundrel finally left the womb behind."

Obi-Wan offered a finger to the baby, and he instantly latched on.

"He's going to grow up to be a real charmer," Obi-Wan asserted. "I can tell."

Shmi smiled. "Anakin says he's going to be important some day," she supplied.

"Even if all he does right now is stink worse than a baby Hutt," a new voice announced from the door.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan greeted with a smile, then dropped it as she turned and took in the boy before her, her expression one of put-upon confusion. "I swear you were a foot shorter last time I saw you."

Anakin chuckled. "I'm a growing boy!" he pointed out.

"That you are," Obi-Wan agreed. "Do you still fit in that pod you built?"

Anakin shook his head ruefully. "I sold it two months ago," he admitted. "It brought in some good coin too."

"Spend it already?" Obi-Wan asked with a crooked smile.

Anakin shook his head again. "I'm saving up," he declared. "So I can build my own ship."

Obi-Wan felt something in her soften and grow warm. "I'm so proud of you Anakin," she told him, the words flowing out of her mouth without her conscious intention, and she recognised the feeling of the Force swirling around and within her. The Force itself was proud of the boy. "Planning for the future like that," she continued, these words coming under her own power once more. "It's a smart thing to do."

Anakin beamed back. "I have to put my school things away, but I'll be right back," he promised, and dashed out of the kitchen again and up the stairs to his room.

"Any sign of a girlfriend yet?" Obi-Wan asked Shmi wryly.

Shmi laughed. "Not yet," she answered. "But I think it won't be long. Anakin is turning into a very handsome young man."

~oOo~

It felt like mission after mission, with only short reprieves to check on the Skywalkers and the growing Clone Army. Apart from these, the missions that Obi-Wan was sent on were always risky in some way or another – and an argument could be made that visiting the Kaminoans wasn't wholly safe either, what with the dangerous training she drilled those clones in, and the careful conversation she had with the Kaminoans themselves.

Delicate negotiations and violent environments where she had to somehow get the warring factions to calm down and resolve their issues; these became the norm for her. Occasionally she was sent on a search and rescue missions. Now and then she had to conduct investigations. With increasing frequency, she was given body-guard duty when some Senator or another was facing the threat of assassination.

The galaxy seemed to be slowly destabilising, but life moved on.

A Chancellory Election was held on Coruscant, and even though the position of Senator for Naboo had been well and truly handed over to another, the ex-Senator, Palpatine still somehow managed to get himself elected to the post.

Master Poof was killed on a mission to protect Coruscant that had been conducted with the aid of the same bounty hunter that was supplying his genetic code for the Kaminoans and the Clone Army. The mission was successful, apart from the Master's death.

The Outbound Flight mission proved itself to be a failure when all of the Jedi aboard died in a crash, and Obi-Wan was sent out to find if there were any survivors. That mission was the first flight of her YT-1000, which she'd ended up naming _Valiant_ , and the only survivors she had found had been a few traumatised Younglings.

Whatever else a person might say about Master C'baoth, and a person could say a lot, it seemed he had done what he could to protect the children in the end. So, while the ship followed the charted course through hyperspace, Obi-Wan cared for the Younglings as best she could. She guided them through meditation exercises and a few basic lightsaber drills, and held them when they woke up in tears during the sleep-cycle, until they returned at last to Coruscant.

Obi-Wan was forced to bring back Master Yaddle's dead body from what was supposed to be a peacekeeping mission on the planet Mawan. Well, a mission to restore peace, rather than keep it, since it had fallen into lawlessness. Master Yaddle had sacrificed herself for the sake of the planet's inhabitants, using the Force to draw a chemical weapon into herself when it was released upon the planet.

Anakin grew taller than Obi-Wan, and his mother, and got his first kiss from his first girlfriend all in quick succession. Little Han Solo lost his parents, was sent to an orphanage, and Shmi was not permitted to adopt the boy because she was a single mother.

"You'll see him again, Mistress Kenobi," Anakin asserted. "I'm sure you will, and you've still got me."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I know," she told him. "I know."

The Clone Army, both Obi-Wan's clones and those of the bounty hunter Jango Fett, matured and trained and readied themselves for the day when they would be needed.

Young Boba Fett was growing up into a very cute kid. She'd managed to convince him to call her 'Aunt Obi', after a whole lot of sweet-talking and tickling. His father, Jango, continued to be off-world every time Obi-Wan was on it, but Boba had proudly shown off a holo-capture of his 'dad' in his Mandalorian armour.

It was certainly impressive.

~oOo~

"Obi-Wan," Master Yoda called up from the floor of the Temple hangar – she was doing some maintenance on her ship again.

Well, making some more modifications. The first – and most important modification – had been to get the _Valiant_ 's cockpit re-arranged so that she could fly the ship by herself, without the need for a co-pilot. After that, she'd added an extra layer of durasteel cladding to the outside, so that it was as smooth as a Nubian vessel. This made her ship much easier to clean, as well as harder to seriously damage. Adding the cladding had taken almost as long as the cockpit modifications, simply because there was so much to do.

The ship _was_ twenty-eight metres long and roughly circular, after all.

On her last trip to Corellia, Anakin had helped her really finesse the engines, so that now the ship went half again as fast as it had before, and more fuel efficient. The ship was more manoeuvrable as well, when Anakin had finished tinkering with it.

Presently, Obi-Wan was fiddling with the signal-booster for general communications and message relays.

The first modification had been of necessity. The second out of a desire to not have to put up with her friends calling it 'her junker' any more – shiny as it was now, they really couldn't get away with it. The modifications after that had been something that she (and Anakin) had _felt_ needed to be done.

Obi-Wan set aside her hydrospanner for now and crossed the top of her ship to the edge where her ladder was.

"Yes, Master Yoda?" she answered.

"A visitor you have," Master Yoda informed her. "Come down at once, you should."

"Just let me pack up my tool kit, and I'll be right down," she agreed, and turned towards the box sitting on her ship, surrounded by tools and the open hatch of her outer hull. A little bit of careful Force use, and everything was put away. The tool box floated to her hand, and Obi-Wan quickly slid down her ladder.

"Visit the refresher, perhaps you should, before your visitor you greet," Master Yoda recommended with a smile.

"I'm not afraid of a little bit of space-dirt, Master Yoda," said the taller figure that stood beside the diminutive Master. "And I knew better than to wear my best Senatorial robes to make this visit."

Obi-Wan certainly wouldn't have picked her visitor for a Senator from his wardrobe. The figure was wearing a very normal-looking green jacket (which the collar and cuffs of a white shirt peeked out from), over a pair of trousers that were a lighter shade of green, and sensible black boots.

There was no ostentatious robe, nor even a plain one that fell to the floor such as ex-Chancellor Valorum employed when the Senate wasn't in session.

There was something about the face, and more than that, something about the way the Force felt as it flowed through this young man, though he was no Force-sensitive.

"If Mistress Kenobi feels the need to clean up before I steal her away though, I don't mind. She knows where we're going much better than I do," the young man added with a cheeky smile.

"Padme," Obi-Wan realised.

The young man's smile became a delighted grin. "You do recognise me!" he declared happily. "I was worried that you wouldn't."

"Well, you're no lanky teenager any more," Obi-Wan allowed with a smile of her own. "You really did grow, didn't you? And here am I, fated to never exceed one metre eighty in height."

"Quite big enough," Master Yoda quipped, and knocked her on her right knee with his walking stick. A stick he didn't really need, if his acrobatics in the training halls when sparring with Master Windu were any indication.

"Well, I'll just get the large stains and the sweat off, if you don't mind waiting a bit," Obi-Wan said to Padme.

"Can I poke around your quarters like a busy-body while you do?" Padme requested with a smile.

"Of the Jedi Temple, a tour you may have," Master Yoda offered. "Obi-Wan will find us again when clean, she once more is," he said with certainty and a resolved nod.

"I'll catch you up in no more than half an hour," she promised.

~oOo~

A sonic shower, a change of clothes, and a single hair-tie at the base of her skull, and Obi-Wan left her apartment and let the Force lead her to where Master Yoda and (apparently Senator) Padme were up to in the tour – which turned out to be the chamber where the Apprentice Tournament was being held.

"Thinking of taking a Padawan again, Master Yoda?" Obi-Wan asked lightly as she joined them.

The old Trog chuckled. "Teach all the Younglings, I do," he pointed out. "A Padawan, I will not take. Bored with never leaving the Temple, they would quickly be."

Obi-Wan could only shake her head at that. Not one of the Initiates would be even slightly upset by that, just so long as they were taken to be the Padawan of a Master, and would be given the chance to become a Knight rather than being sent to the Service Corps.

"What about you, Mistress Kenobi?" Padme asked. "Do you have a Padawan? Or are you thinking of taking one?"

"Oh, I'd be happy to take one of this batch," Obi-Wan said easily as she watched the Younglings compete. "But at the moment, the Order is bogged down in so much tradition."

"What mean you by that, Obi-Wan?" Yoda asked pointedly.

Obi-Wan bit her lip and took a moment to think of how to phrase what she was about to say to the Grand Master of the Order.

"There are Younglings enough that every Knight and Master could take two Padawans at once, and there would still be a few left over to send out to the Service Corps, especially with the way so many have been abandoning the Order these past few years," Obi-Wan pointed out, "and in times past, Jedi would train two, three, sometimes four Padawans at a time, just because there weren't enough Masters to teach otherwise."

"But allow such now, we do not," Yoda finished, and gave a sigh. "A good point you have raised," he conceded. "Raise this matter with the Council, I will."

"Why does the restriction prevent you from taking a Padawan now though?" Padme asked curiously.

"Because I have seen a Youngling who will not be ready to be an apprentice for, I'd guess, another four years, and I can already feel the Force guiding me to them," Obi-Wan explained, "and no apprenticeship lasts only four years unless a disaster intervenes."

Master Yoda hummed thoughtfully at this, while Padme nodded slowly as he assimilated the new information he had just gained about the workings of the Jedi Order.

"Huh," Obi-Wan exclaimed softly. "I didn't know we had a young Trog in our halls," she said as she stared down at the Initiates that were waiting their turns to exit onto the mats.

"Youngling of my species, Yemna, his name is," Master Yoda declared, then gave a sigh. "More humanoid, most Younglings are," he stated. "Those who are not, rarer in our halls have become."

"Why?" Padme asked, surprised.

"Expeditions to actually find Younglings who can wield the Force are sticking to the Central Planets," Obi-Wan supplied with a frown. "And for all that we have plenty of Initiates to go around right now, there was a time when the Temple wasn't afraid to send search parties out into the Mid- and Outer-Rim, and even into Hutt-space, looking for children."

Master Yoda whacked Obi-Wan's knees with his cane – both of them this time – and glared up at her. "Much to meditate on, you have already given me," he informed her shortly. "Require more, I do not."

"Well, I would be glad to take the young Trog as my Padawan tomorrow, but only so long as I can also take the other Youngling as well in four years time," Obi-Wan stated. "For now though, Senator Padme," she said, turning to the young man. "I believe I promised to take you out for a drink at a diner I know."

Padme smiled. "Yes, you did," he agreed.

~oOo~

"Well, if it isn't Knight Kenobi, come down from her Tower for a bite," a female voice greeted.

"Hey Hermione," Obi-Wan answered the blonde woman with a smile.

"Who's your very attractive friend?" the waitress asked with a smile.

"Padme," the young man supplied for himself.

"And he's not on the menu, Hermione, but he'd like one, please," Obi-Wan cut in easily.

"Sure," Hermione agreed. "Anything to drink?"

"Two Jawa juice," Obi-Wan answered instantly.

"Hot?" Hermione asked as she walked with the pair to one of the empty booths that lined the walls of the diner, a sheet of flimsy apparently materialising in her hand as they moved.

"Is there any other way Dex serves it?" Obi-Wan countered with a smile.

Hermione laughed. "Nope," she stated plainly, and past over the flimsy to Padme – it turned out to be the menu – then left them to their own devices. She had drinks to get and other customers to check on.

"I should bring Jar-Jar here," Padme commented softly as he looked down the menu.

"I personally recommend the nerf steak," Obi-Wan advised easily.

Padme set the menu down and smiled across at the Jedi. "Then that's what I'll get," he said. "So, what have you been up to since I saw you last? I mean, I can see you've achieved what I believed impossible back when I was fourteen."

Obi-Wan let a smile curl around one corner of her mouth as she willingly walked into the younger man's set-up. "Oh?" she pressed.

"You've become even _more_ beautiful," Padme informed her happily.

Obi-Wan laughed. "I need to take you to Corellia so that you can give Anakin lessons in how to smooth-talk," she declared with a smile. "Kid put his foot in his mouth last time I went to check up on him, and his latest girlfriend dumped him for being... now how did she put it? Oh yes, 'an insensitive, inconsiderate Ekster', I believe."

"What's an 'Ekster'?" Padme asked, amused by the short tale.

"Corellian slang for someone who immigrated to Corellia from off-world," Obi-Wan explained without hesitation. "His first girlfriend dumped him for being possessive."

"That never goes over well," Padme agreed, fighting back a smile.

"He's turning into a very handsome young man though. And tall. Anakin was, I swear, only just shy of two metres tall last I saw him," Obi-Wan said. "And he's finally beginning to grow into that height properly, rather than being all elbows and knees."

Padme laughed softly. He'd gone through a stage of being all elbows and knees himself, so he knew about what that was like.

"You know what you want?" Hermione asked, having returned to them with their drinks.

"Two nerf steaks," Obi-Wan answered. "Thanks Hermione."

The blonde nodded and headed back to the kitchen to pass on the order.

"So, Senator now?" Obi-Wan asked as she wrapped one hand around her glass.

"You're trying to avoid telling me what you've been up to," Padme accused as he mimicked the action. "But I'll let it pass for now. Yes, Senator. I served two terms as King, and honestly I was glad to step down when my time was up. I may not have been the youngest to ever rule Naboo, but looking back, I don't think I was old enough. I was looking forward to taking some time off, relax a little with my family, maybe do some charity work... I didn't get much of a holiday though, because almost as soon as I handed over the crown to Jamilla, I got handed this job. I'm still not sure how I feel about that."

"You couldn't stop yourself from serving the public interest if you tried," Obi-Wan quipped with a teasing smile. Gentling it, she continued. "Your people have a lot of faith in you, and it is completely justified by your actions on their behalf. I dare say it was thought that, with Palpatine as the new Chancellor, Senator Vancil wouldn't be proactive enough, since they were friends before," she suggested. "Whereas you're the one who kicked Palpatine out of the position for not representing Naboo's interests properly."

Padme sighed. "That's entirely likely," he agreed. "Still, even a short holiday would have been welcome."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "The Senate isn't in Session all the time," she pointed out with a smile.

"And I brought Jar-Jar Binks with me, so at least things won't be dull often," Padme agreed.

"You brought Jar-Jar?" Obi-Wan repeated, surprised.

Padme nodded. "He's my Associate Planetary Representative," he explained. "Jar-Jar reminds me to think of how things in the Senate will affect the Gungans, as well as the humans of Naboo."

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding.

"Two nerf steaks," Hermione declared as she reappeared by their booth with two loaded plates on her tray. "Now tell me," she said as she set them down. "How does a handsome creature like you get to know Knight Kenobi?" the blonde asked Padme.

Padme smiled, but the smile was directed at Obi-Wan rather than the flirting waitress. "Knight Kenobi was assigned to my protection roughly eight years ago," he said. "Back when I was King of Naboo."

"I'm sorry, when you were King of -?" Hermione pressed, wide-eyed.

"Naboo," Padme repeated. "My planet elects a monarch every four years, and no monarch may serve for more than two terms. I met Knight Kenobi early in my first term, when she was still a Padawan."

"And you were still fourteen," Obi-Wan quipped wryly.

Padme smiled back.

"What brings you to Coruscant then?" Hermione asked.

"I'm the new Senator for Naboo," Padme answered, instantly and easily.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Well, you come here any time handsome," she offered. "Any friend of Knight Kenobi is more than welcome here. You might even hear some good gossip that will be useful to you in _your_ line of work," the waitress suggested before she moved on to check around the booths which customers wanted their drinks refilled.

The two played catch-up for a good few hours. Obi-Wan related tales of Anakin and Shmi, and of little Han Solo – who she had been keeping track of as well. Padme didn't need to know the boy to be concerned by his situation. He'd 'joined' a pirate crew just the year before. Certainly not an ideal environment for a four-year-old. Since there was a female Wookie on the crew though, Obi-Wan didn't worry too much. Wookies were good people, even if they weren't always operating in the most honest lines of work. Obi-Wan still worried, but with Han having been taken in by the Wookie as a sort of surrogate-son, it made not knowing the details... a little easier to bear.

Padme in turn exchanged tales of how the droid army left behind by the Trade Federation had been cannibalised by his people to use in defence of their world. The Gungans helped to train, and trained with, the humans of Naboo that wanted to learn how to fight. Captain Panaka had been elevated from his position of Chief of Security in the palace to co-commander of the Naboo Army, a position he shared with the Gungan captain, Tarpals. Less relevant to people known, but still relevant to Naboo as a whole, was that spice miners were becoming an issue on one of Naboo's moons, but he was sure that Queen Jamilla would get it sorted out just fine.

Their meal done, and dessert consumed as well, Obi-Wan escorted Padme back to his apartment before she returned to the Temple. She still wasn't finished making those modifications to her ship, after all.

"Taken Yenma for his Padawan learner, Master Rancisis has," Yoda informed Obi-Wan, having way-laid her in a hallway. "Meditate further on your words, I still must," he added.

Obi-Wan bowed solemnly before the Grand Master, and offered no more words.

~oOo~

It was a nightclub. For just two days, all of them were together again, and Siri had said that she'd missed being able to go out and have some fun. Even Bant and Reeft had been dragged along to the lower level establishment, and despite their initial reticence, they were enjoying themselves just as much as Quinlan, Siri and Garen all were.

Bant had found another Mon Calamari to dance with, and Reeft was smiling as Garen plied him with drink after drink. Quinlan and Siri were, as usual, in the middle of a mass of all sorts of different humanoids, swaying and grinding and raising their arms in the air as though they could catch the music that pumped through the air.

Obi-Wan was content to watch the spectacle and keep her ears peeled for anything interesting.

"Wanna buy some death sticks?" a voice to her right offered.

"No," Obi-Wan answered without turning. "And neither does anybody else in this club, or any other. I suggest you find a different line of work," she added lightly, though the Force was behind her words.

"I'm gonna go find a different line of work," the voice agreed, and Obi-Wan was aware of a presence leaving the stool at her side and moving away.

That had to be the fourth time she'd come to this club and someone had offered her death sticks, and she'd only come to this club five times all told. With Siri and Quinlan every time. At least she was certain that neither of them took any of the dangerous drugs that got pushed in places like this. No, they just indulged in the professional bodies.

Which was really _so_ much better, she thought to herself derisively.

No, she wasn't going to go there. She wasn't jealous of her friends for their ability to accept bodily gratification without emotional investment. Siri, she could understand. Quinlan though, well, with his Kiffar heritage and his ability to read memories simply from touch... she really didn't know how he got through that sort of thing.

And she didn't want to know either.

All that was important was that she knew, for herself, she'd never be able to manage it. She didn't know if it was a strange, undocumented quirk of the humans of Stewjon, or if she really was just that odd, but the very core of her resisted and found repugnant the idea of physical intimacy with someone unless and until they had committed to each other.

Marriage.

Something that Jedi were not, in general, permitted. Needs of the species was an allowable reason to permit such. Master Mundi had five wives, though it was more normal for his race to have ten, due to the imbalance between males and females. There were the Corellian Jedi, of course, who hadn't cared about outside influences protesting the idea of Jedi bloodlines.

And it was an outside idea. Obi-Wan knew from her studies in the Archive, as well as conversations with the holocron of her 'other' Master – Revan, the long dead Jedi/Sith/redeemed man who had spawned his very own order in his later years. The no attachment rule had come from within the Order, but extending it so far as to prevent having families and children, that had come from without.

The Master/Padawan relationship was clear proof that it was possible to have such a relationship without having 'attachment', though Obi-Wan herself questioned that rule often in her private meditations.

Still, it was the rules – for now – and so she would abide by it.

And as she couldn't bring herself to partake of casual intimacy like her friends, she maintained total celibacy – and barricaded herself behind the Force whenever she came to places such as this, the defence effectively saving her from having to turn down a slew of propositions that were invariably of the sexual nature.

But even here, in a nightclub, it was still Coruscant, and Coruscant was the planet that was one big city – and that city was the capital of the galaxy, the seat of the government. People were aware of what was going on in the galaxy, and they were talking about it.

The hot topic all over the planet was the Separatist movement, which seemed to be being led by the former Jedi Master, Count Dooku. No one was quite sure what to make of it.

Obi-Wan's allegiance was to the Force, first and foremost, but the Jedi Order had long been allied to the Republic as well, had given their allegiance to democracy.

Obi-Wan didn't know what to think of this Separatist movement either, though she did know disgust with the Senate for all the reasons it had come about.

"Another blue dwarf," Obi-Wan requested of the bar-tender solemnly. This nightclub didn't serve straight Jawa juice for some reason.

" _You could be finishing your new lightsaber right now,_ " Qui-Gon's voice pointed out, a soft, stern whisper in her ear.

"Believe me Master, I'd much rather be there than here just now," Obi-Wan countered, keeping her voice low as she muttered into her drink. "But since I am here, I'm going to drink."

~End Intervening Years~


	13. Chapter 13

~Begin Part Two~

Obi-Wan had just returned to the space around Coruscant. She'd made her regular trip to Corellia (which had been a good, quiet trip, and she'd been able to congratulate Anakin on graduating from school a year early while she was there. Nineteen now, he had a steady girlfriend that he was planning on proposing to as soon as she also graduated from the Corellian school) and then gone to mediate a border dispute on Ansion. That hadn't been calm, and she was looking forward to a bubble bath when she got back to the Temple. She only had a sonic shower installed in her refresher aboard the _Valiant_. Maybe she should do something about that.

Obi-Wan was just about to begin her entry sequence when she spotted a familiar Nubian ship coming out of hyperspace a short way off her port-side, with a couple of small fighters accompanying it. Considering the threats against Naboo's senator for his stance in regards to certain Acts that were soon to be voted on in the Senate, that was almost certainly a good idea.

Obi-Wan decided to hail the envoy.

"Naboo Senatorial Cruiser, this is Knight Kenobi of the ship _Valiant_ , currently riding within visual range off your starboard," she said, a fairly standard communication initiation between ships.

"Hey there Knight Kenobi," answered the voice of Ric Olie. "Been a while. Feel like being a bit of extra hover for Senator Amidala?"

This wasn't the first time such an incident of the two ships arriving at Coruscant at the same time had happened. They'd worked out a few code-phrases over that time, rare as the need for them really was.

Ric suggesting that Obi-Wan be 'extra hover for Senator Amidala' meant that Padme was employing a decoy aboard the main ship, while he himself was pretending to be one of his own guards.

If Padme was pretending to be his own attendant, then it was 'some hover', rather than being 'extra' hover for Senator Amidala. In the rare event that Padme wasn't using a decoy or disguise at all in his comings and goings, then it was 'the Senator will be glad to see you'.

"I'd have just kept on my way to the Temple otherwise Ric," Obi-Wan replied with a smile that the other pilot couldn't see. And that was her code-phrase for 'I sense the Force in this, and something is wrong'. "What's the best position?" Obi-Wan asked, even as she drew her ship closer to the convoy.

"An extra guard at the rear would be welcome," Ric answered, which effectively told Obi-Wan which of the escort vessels Padme was flying in. "I'll let him know you're a friendly, rather than someone to shoot at," Olie added, and Obi-Wan could hear the man's amused smirk.

"You do that," Obi-Wan agreed. "I won't land when you guys do though," she added. "Just, as you say, hover a while before I continue on to the Temple."

"Fastest way to get help to us if something does go wrong," Ric agreed. That was just plain truth, no two ways about it.

It was one of those rare days when there was actually some weather on the planet. Clouds had shrouded a portion of the planet in a wide band, thick and white and soup-like for flying through as the ships made their heading.

The little guard ships set down first, then the large Senator's ship, and Obi-Wan moved her own craft to hover by the furthest end of the landing platform. Her ramp was lowered at a prompting from the Force, though she remained by the controls and didn't actually set down. After all, she was hovering, not landing.

Then an explosion from the Senator's ship rocked the platform, destroying the craft, and Obi-Wan felt the Force cry at the lives lost. The sound of boots stumbling up her ship's ramp followed not long after.

"How close can you get us to the Senator's apartment?"

"Captain Typho," Obi-Wan greeted. She'd met Padme's new chief of security roughly a month after Padme had arrived in Coruscant three years before. "I can get you to his personal balcony if you need me to," she offered.

"That would be ideal," Captain Typho agreed. "Though I admit I'm concerned that anybody would know which balcony was his."

"Jar-Jar is in the apartment, right?" Obi-Wan asked as she guided her ship around. "I'm just going to be focusing on his presence in the Force. It would be easier to find if you had a Jedi there, but I know Jar-Jar well enough that it won't be too much trouble."

"Thank you, Obi-Wan," Padme said his tone low and his voice tight.

"Men are allowed to cry too, Padme," she reminded him. "I recommend you have a hot shower and let it all out then."

"Thank you, Obi-Wan," Padme said again, softly.

Obi-Wan was able to let her temporary passenger off within five standard minutes, and then took herself home to the Temple. She had a report to make to the Council before she could indulge in that bubble bath she'd promised herself.

~oOo~

The report Obi-Wan gave to the Council was conducted in a rough reversal of the order in which things had happened. She started with having met the Naboo ship in orbit of Coruscant and escorting Senator Amidala to his apartment. After that, she detailed the process of the border dispute on Ansion. Last, but not truly least, Obi-Wan moved on to her report on Anakin's progress on Corellia.

"Good, young Skywalker's progress is," Master Yoda declared with a smile. "Starting a family, he soon will be, hmm?" he repeated, recalling that part of Obi-Wan's just-given report.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, Master," she agreed. "He intends to marry Miss Chasey in two years, by which time she will have graduated from school and he believes he will have saved enough money to afford a home for them."

"Did you discuss the possibility of his children being Jedi?" Master Windu asked seriously.

"I did," Obi-Wan agreed with a nod. "As strong as Anakin is in the Force, it is almost certain that his children would be as well. He said if they were, then he'd take them to the Jedi on Corellia first."

"That seems a fair enough answer," Master Mundi agreed. "Corellia is the only planet besides Coruscant to have an active Jedi Temple, after all."

"It's why young Skywalker was sent to a Corellian school, rather than on some other planet," Master Koon recalled. "Has the boy been much in need of their guidance?"

"He had some troubling visions about a year ago," Obi-Wan allowed. "But the Masters there were able to help him, and he understands better now that the future is always in motion, and he was able to defeat his fears."

"Were these visions something we should be concerned about?" Master Windu asked sharply.

"A vision of his mother's death," Obi-Wan answered easily as she shook her head. "Nothing more. Shmi was ill at the time, and Anakin feared for her, but between the Masters' guidance and the knowledge of the healers, they're both fine now. Shmi gave Ani a good talking to as well, about letting her go when her time came," she added with a hint of a smile.

A brief, approving silence filled the chamber. Shmi, for all that no one on the Council had ever met the woman, was held in high esteem by most of them, simply through the picture that Obi-Wan built of her when she made her report on Anakin's progress.

Master Windu was the one to break the silence. "What of the army?" he asked gravely.

"I intend to head out to review its progress in a couple of weeks," Obi-Wan replied. "The first batch -" they knew the army was made up of clones, there was no hiding it. "- should be ready by now."

"Good," Master Windu said firmly. "With the way the Separatists are moving, we may need them sooner rather than later. If they break away, there wouldn't be enough Jedi to protect the Republic," he said. "We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers."

Obi-Wan nodded her understanding. "Should they be needed, the soldiers that Master Sifo-Dyas arranged for us will be ready. They have no true combat experience, but the training they have been receiving is extensive."

"Training which you have been overseeing," Master Fisto reminded the Council at large with a small smile.

"Short visits every two years, but they have always been very intense times," Obi-Wan half-deferred, half-agreed.

"Trained many, you have. Given me lessons, even old as I am, and much cause for thought and meditation," Master Yoda stated, and looked about the room at the other seated Masters on the Council. "Confer on you, the rank of Jedi Master, this Council does," he proclaimed solemnly.

Obi-Wan caught herself before her jaw could drop open, and released her utter shock into the Force, which of course meant that the Masters could call feel it. She bowed deeply before them.

It was really all that she could do.

She was going to need a long bubble bath, and then maybe a few hours of meditation, to get this proclamation settled in her head. It wasn't like when she'd been made a Knight. There was preparation for that. Trials, a ceremony. This... they'd just all sat there and Master Yoda had told her they'd promoted her.

And if she knew her friends, then every single one of them that was in the Temple would hear about her promotion before last meal, and they'd either pile into her apartment or drag her out into the lower levels to celebrate.

Much as she cared for her friends, she desperately checked her memories for last missions her friends might have been sent on. Siri... should still on an undercover mission to bring down some slave traders. Okay, that was one she was safe from. Reeft... he'd just been given a protection job last she'd heard. One that was likely to be a full year long, just reporting in to the Council via holo-communications. That made two. Garen... had taken his Padawan to the Yavin system to investigate the ancient temples there when she had left for her own mission. He'd drawn the short straw. Someone got sent to check those temples every five years. Never the same person twice though, if the Council could help it.

They were Sith temples, after all.

So that was three... Bant was a healer at the Temple. She nearly never left. It was highly unlikely she'd have been sent on a mission out of the Temple while Obi-Wan was gone. Bant though would be okay with having a celebration of some kind in Obi-Wan's apartment. Take her out and treat her to a nerf steak at Dex's at the most. Which just left Quinlan... and he was due back from his mission any day now.

If Obi-Wan was lucky, she'd be off on her next mission before he got back.

"Please Force," she begged softly. She cared for her friends. She did. But she didn't want Quinlan to drag her off to a nightclub to 'celebrate' her promotion where he would get drunk, and find someone to have sex with, while she just nursed a glass of Jawa juice or a blue dwarf for the evening.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan had enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful evening, with only Bant dropping by, and she only stayed long enough to make sure Obi-Wan drank her fair share of the bottle of champagne that Bant had brought with her. Obi-Wan didn't much care for the drink, but it was Bant's favourite, and as such, the one that the Mon Cal kept on hand for celebrations. A 'fair share' couldn't be too much for either of them if they didn't want to feel it in the morning though. Bant was on duty in the medical wing in the morning, so the celebration had to be moderate and couldn't go too late. Obi-Wan was grateful for that, and she was also grateful for the full night of undisturbed sleep she was able to get.

A hot shower started her day the next morning, even though she'd indulged in a bubble-bath the night before. She followed it up with pancakes for breakfast, made in her own tiny kitchenette in her apartment. After that, she sat down in front of the holonet to catch up on the news she had missed while she was off-world, and absently fiddled a section of her hair into a slim braid.

She'd managed to get three such braids woven into her hair, and was just an inch away from finishing a fourth, when her apartment's comm unit sounded. Obi-Wan tied off the braid at the point she'd reached, and went to answer.

"Obi-Wan," Master Windu greeted her. "I'm afraid you're not going to get a lot of relaxation time. You've been requested for a mission."

"And there I was hoping for a week off before I stocked up my ship and headed out to check on the emergency protocol," Obi-Wan groused softly. Unless she was talking to the Council in person, and even then only in the Council Chamber, the clone army was referred to exclusively as 'the emergency protocol'. Just in case.

"With the latest attack on Senator Amidala, Chancellor Palpatine wants us to take him under our protection," Master Windu explained. "He also suggested that Senator Amidala would be more amenable to the extra security if you were it. I saw no reason to disagree to the request, since you do have some time."

"I take it that investigating the threat is implied in this mandate?" Obi-Wan checked.

"Protecting Senator Amidala is priority," Master Windu stated. "If you can investigate the threat at the same time, however, then do so," he allowed.

"Understood," Obi-Wan replied, and hesitated a moment before continuing. "And if I may? It looks to me like Chancellor Palpatine wants to give the assassin another chance by assigning a female to protect a male."

"Do you think you'll need help?" Master Windu asked with a frown.

Obi-Wan shook her head. "Best way to flush out an assassin is to give them a window of opportunity, but I don't see Senator Amidala appreciating being used as bait to catch his own would-be killer. Failing that, he does have other security there with him. Non-female security."

Master Windu smirked as he gave a small huff of amusement. "Head to the Senator's apartment as soon as you're presentable," he instructed, and the holo winked out.

Obi-Wan blinked at that last comment and looked down. Huh. She'd been talking to Master Windu in her 'day off' clothes: grey sleep-pants and a worn, baggy t-shirt with the symbol of the Jedi Order hand-painted (by her) on the front, right over the chest area. She wasn't wearing anything on her feet at all.

Well, in her defence, she had anticipated having a lazy morning in front of the holonet before heading down to the training mats to run through some exercises.

"Right," she muttered to herself, and headed back to her bedroom. Time to get dressed.

~oOo~

" _Let me guess_ ," a disembodied voice said as the repulsorlift began its climb up the side of 500 Republic. " _You want me to watch the Senator during those times when it would be inappropriate for you to do so_."

"Now Master, would I take advantage of you that way?" Obi-Wan countered with a smile as she took in the translucent shape at her side that was the Force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn.

" _Yes_ ," Qui-Gon replied with a chuckle.

"Well, if you're offering," she allowed. "But I was just going to have a word with Artoo about monitoring Padme at those times. Then again, it really would be helpful if you'd take over when I'm inevitably going to be drawn into an adrenaline-fuelled chase."

Qui-Gon snorted at his ex-Padawan's sarcasm. " _You? Getting yourself caught up in a chase?_ " he scoffed.

Obi-Wan smiled. Yeah, she knew better as well. Sometimes they were truly unavoidable, but she'd done fairly well at not getting herself into too many of those sorts of situations over the past ten years.

"How about this, if it turns out that I need help, I'll let you know," Obi-Wan suggested.

Qui-Gon nodded in acceptance, and faded away into the Force once more.

The repulsorlift came to a halt at last, and the door opened.

"Obi!" Jar-Jar greeted with a grin. "Me-sa so smilin' to seein' you-sa!" the Gungan declared happily as he wrapped her up in a hug.

Obi-Wan laughed easily and returned the gesture gladly. "I'm happy to see you too Jar-Jar," she replied. "I just wish it was for lunch down at Dex's, rather than because I'd been sent to be extra security for Padme."

Jar-Jar released her, and nodded solemnly as he stepped back. "You-sa won't be catchin' me-sa disagreein' with that," he said firmly as he led the way into the main area of the apartment. "Senator Padme!" he called. "Lookie lookie Senator," he said as he stopped a short way into the room. "Is-a Jedi arrivin'."

Obi-Wan halted and bowed professionally to Padme when the Senator turned from where he'd been standing at his balcony railing and approached her.

"When Master Windu said he'd be sending you straight over, I was a little worried you'd beat me back here, since he was just leaving a meeting with the Chancellor, and I was just joining one," Padme admitted.

"I only just got back from a long mission yesterday, Senator," Obi-Wan explained with a rueful smile. "And was under the impression I'd have at least all of today for myself before the Council called on me again. I'm afraid Master Windu caught me out of uniform."

"Lucky man," Captain Typho murmured, a distant look overtaking his single eye.

Obi-Wan snorted softly in amusement, but offered no correction.

Padme, however, looked mildly distressed as he gestured an invitation to sit, and took the lead by heading to the fine beige couches of his apartment first.

"I'm sorry Obi-Wan," he said as he sat down. "It didn't occur to me when Master Windu said you'd just returned from a border dispute on Ansion, even though I know you only got back to Coruscant at the same time that we did."

Obi-Wan waved off the concern as she took a place on the opposite couch. "It's alright, Padme, really," she assured him with an easy, gentle smile. "It is far from the first time I've been called to another mission the day after arriving back from one, and I dare say it won't be the last either."

"Queen Jamilla has been informed of your assignment," Captain Typho offered as he took up position, still standing, at the end of the couch where Padme, Jar-Jar, and Padme's aid had all seated themselves. "And we're all grateful that you're here, Mistress Kenobi," he added sincerely to the lone occupant of the other couch. "The situation is more dangerous than the Senator would like to admit."

"I don't need more security," Padme objected with a hint of a growl. "I need answers. I want to know who's trying to kill me," he stated.

"Padme, just because you lost Palo doesn't mean you will lose everyone who wants you to be safe," Obi-Wan said softly, more aware of why Padme was objecting to extra security because of her own connection with the Force. "Alright?"

Padme stared back at her for a silent moment before eventually he nodded in acceptance. Palo had been his decoy since he'd become King of Naboo, and was his best friend even before that. It was a hard loss, but he needed to move on from it.

"Good," Obi-Wan said softly, then changed her tone from comforting to a much more business-like one. "Now, my priorities are your safety first, and investigating the threat against you as secondary," Obi-Wan informed the group plainly.

"But you will be investigating," Padme pressed.

Obi-Wan resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes," she replied. "But not at the expense of anybody's safety if I can help it. My being a woman will leave a window in your security, that is, if you're feeling very modest at any rate."

Padme's cheeks pinked a little at what was implied.

"I have no intention of using you as bait to catch your would-be killer," Obi-Wan said plainly. "So I suggest you don't think too heavily on your modesty. I will be immediately outside your door at that time, monitoring you through the Force, rather than through any sort of technology. None of the rest of your staff is female, so I don't see any reason for that issue to arise. Still, as soon as you're done being modest, I'd like you to sleep with the door open. If an attempt is made on you tonight, then that will be one less thing for me to deal with."

Padme nodded, only a little hesitantly, in both understanding and compliance.

"Alternatively, we can use the next attempt to fake your death and you can hide away in my apartment at the Temple while I investigate," Obi-Wan counter-offered.

Padme gave a short, breathy laugh, and shook his head. It wasn't in disagreement or dismissal, but rather amusement at Obi-Wan's sense of humour and alternative strategy.

Obi-Wan simply smiled back and didn't comment on the light pink shade that had once more darkened the Senator's cheeks.


	14. Chapter 14

Blue eyes watched as a perfectly round hole was cut through the partially shaded window, and a tube was delivered through it. A tube from which two white kouhun were dropped.

Obi-Wan caught the two highly venomous arthropods with the Force before they hit the floor, while her hand went to the pocket where she kept a specially modified surveillance device. One that was not only smaller than most, but also contained a tracking device and was very easily attached to things like, for example, the modified courier droid that was still hovering outside of the Senator's window.

Maintaining the Force-hold on the kouhuns with one hand, Obi-Wan used the other to direct the holorecorder/tracker through the little hole that the droid had cut, and attached her device to it as it backed away from the window and started on its escape. Let the investigation begin.

"Mn?" came a sleepy grunt from the bed. "Obi-Wan?"

"Your assassination attempt for the evening, Senator," Obi-Wan answered with a vague smile as she bought the arthropods into the line of sight of the young man, though not nearly close enough for them to cause any harm. "These little menaces have a fatal bite, and a sting that while not deadly, is very painful."

"Artoo," Padme called, having come very suddenly awake from the moment the word 'assassination' had crossed Obi-Wan's lips.

The little astromech whistled in answer from the corner of the room where he'd been sitting, powered down but with his passive sensors all running – just in case.

"Containment for these things, please," Padme requested.

R2 chirped an agreement and opened a hatch.

"That's a new attachment for you, isn't it Artoo?" Obi-Wan asked, impressed, as she lowered the two very leggy creatures into the compartment that R2 had opened and released a containment box from.

R2 bleeped and whirred in agreement, proud of the upgrades that had been made to his chassis on the most recent lay-over back home on Naboo.

"We gave him booster rockets as well," Padme added. "So he can fly under his own power if he needs to. It won't get him out of a planet's orbital gravity field, but things like crossing chasms or rivers, or skipping long flights of stairs, they'll be good for that."

R2 gave an eager little whistle as he closed the containment box and returned it to its place within his chassis.

Obi-Wan laughed. "No, I don't need a demonstration," she answered, and ran her fingers over his dome fondly. "At least, not right now," she amended. "I'm sure you'll have an occasion to show off for me later."

R2 whistled an agreement, which he followed with a question that buzzed and chirped.

"Yes, you can power down again," Obi-Wan confirmed. "Padme?" she asked.

Padme jerked at the sound of his name.

"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan questioned gently. "This is the second attempt on your life in as many days, after all."

"I'll be fine," Padme confirmed.

"Meaning you're not right now," Obi-Wan countered.

"No," Padme admitted. "But I _will_ be," he promised, and twisted where he sat on the bed so that his feet could brace against the floor, his back to Obi-Wan, and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

Obi-Wan extended a hand to rest over Padme's bare shoulder. "You're not helpless," she stated frankly, though she kept her voice soft.

Padme scoffed lightly. "How do you always know what to say?" he asked, his voice a little harsh from the way he was speaking around a tense lump in his throat.

"Jedi," Obi-Wan answered with a weak smile.

Padme twisted slightly to level an exasperated glare at his protector out of one eye.

"You were broadcasting," she added.

"What will happen now?" Padme asked as he turned away again.

"Now, you will go back to sleep and dream whatever it is that Senators dream about. I will monitor the receiving device for sign of whoever sent the droid with its deadly little cargo, and in the morning I'll give you a report on what I have learned. Then, while you go off to some committee meeting, I'll report to the Council," Obi-Wan explained.

"And what do you think the Council will do with your report?" Padme pressed.

"Oh, any number of things," Obi-Wan admitted. "They could send me off to track down whoever sent the droid with the kouhun. They could order me to escort you off the planet and back to the safety of Naboo. They could reassign the whole thing, giving your protection over to someone else while also sending a different Jedi to investigate the threat, and I'll be sent of on a totally unrelated mission."

"I will not go back to Naboo at this time," Padme objected firmly. "This vote is too important."

Obi-Wan sighed. This vote was on the matter of potentially creating an 'Army of the Republic', which theoretically would be meant to aid the Jedi in keeping peace throughout the Galaxy. Padme was opposed to the proposal, based on the idea that if the Republic did form an army, then the Separatists would see it as an invitation to make war.

Obi-Wan didn't disagree with him on that score, but at the same time she knew that the Jedi were already stretched thin. Just as Master Sifo-Dyas had somehow foreseen a decade before. However much none of them _wanted_ an army, they were beginning to admit that they just might _need_ one.

Master Windu had made it clear to all of the Order recently that Jedi were keepers of the peace. Not soldiers. A number of the more senior Knights (Obi-Wan among them at the time) had been greatly disheartened that such a reminder had been believed necessary by the Masters of the Council.

Padme would not be happy when he found out about Obi-Wan's part in preparing the army that the Senator was so against being formed, but Obi-Wan could live with that, just so long as all those clones helped to make sure everybody else actually lived through the almost inevitable war that was calling from the horizon.

Master Yoda may say that the future was currently impossible to see, due to how clouded it was by the Dark Side, but from Obi-Wan's studies (and discussions with the holocron left by Revan), she had a fairly good idea that any time the Dark Side got to clouding the future that way, then large-scale violence of the 'war' variety was a very serious and distinct probability.

"I'm probably going to regret suggesting this," Obi-Wan declared as she removed her hand from the warm skin of Padme's exposed shoulder. "But you could always bluff it out."

Padme turned properly to look at Obi-Wan. She had his full attention – and an excellent view of his bare chest, which unlike many other Senators was well muscled and defined, rather than soft and flabby. Oh yes, Obi-Wan had seen many Senators in such a state to make the comparison, damn protection details.

"A decoy sent to Naboo, your apartment empty or occupied by another decoy, while you will be somewhere else, still on Coruscant, but better protected than here," Obi-Wan suggested.

"You have a place in mind?" Padme asked. "Because I do not like the idea of hiding, of not being here when the fate of this bill is decided when I've been working for a year to see it defeated."

Obi-Wan took a deep breath. No, Padme would not be happy if he knew of Obi-Wan's part in making sure there _was_ an army if it turned out to be needful.

"My apartment," she offered. "In the Jedi Temple."

~oOo~

"Approve this plan, the Council does," Master Yoda declared with a smile when Obi-Wan had completed her report, as well as given her suggested course of action. "But who to send to protect Senator Amidala's decoys? For protected, they must be. Sacred, all life is."

"A protection detail on the decoys will also help with the ruse. Then there is also the matter of the investigation," Master Windu said. "As well as Master Kenobi's other duties. Do you have the time to conduct both?" he asked.

Obi-Wan considered that. "I will need to leave soon," she answered at last. "I had originally intended to take this day to check over my ship, tomorrow to stock it, and leave the day after..."

"Then you will follow that course of action," Master Fisto decided. "I and my Padawan shall take up the investigation. You have given us an excellent beginning," he praised in reference to her recording of the courier droid returning to the bounty hunter Zam Wesell.

Obi-Wan bowed in deference to the Nautolan Master.

"To escort and guard on Naboo, send your friend Garen Muln we shall," Yoda decided slowly. "To guard at the Senator's apartment... Hmm... Stass Allie," he decided. "Able to keep Representative Binks from harm or manipulations, she also shall," the elderly Trog added with a small smile.

"When you leave, then Bant Eerin will take over watching the Senator himself," Master Koon said, his tone brooking no argument from anybody. "It is common for her to keep your apartment clean while you are on missions," he added in observation. "No one will question her coming and going from your apartment while you're not there."

"Senator Amidala will not be a spectacle while he is here, and we expect professional conduct from you, Master Kenobi, while the two of you share quarters before you leave," Master Mundi put in, his tone firm.

Master Gallia chuckled softly from her chair on the other side of the room. "Obi-Wan Kenobi? Not conduct herself professionally?" she questioned with a smile.

"She does have a history of questionable conduct," Mundi pointed out, and if he wasn't a Jedi Master, his tone might have been called mildly petulant.

"That was before she was a Knight," Master Billaba countered with an easy smile. "And she has experience in living with men and behaving herself, or have you forgotten who her Master was?" she questioned them all. "Master Kenobi, go in peace, inform the Senator of our decision, and may the Force be with you."

Obi-Wan bowed before the Council and left their Chamber. That had actually been a little more uncomfortable than she had anticipated. Especially when it was made a point to her to be professional in her own apartment.

~oOo~

Padme stared around Obi-Wan's apartment in shock. It was nothing like his own apartment, which was expansive and vaguely luxurious. No, Obi-Wan's apartment was small and much more utilitarian. He'd never been to Obi-Wan's apartment before, nor indeed the private living quarters of any of the Jedi. A tour of the Temple in general had not prepared him for this.

"It's..." he tried.

Obi-Wan smirked a little. "Not what you were expecting," she finished. "I know. The rest of the Temple is built on a grand scale, large open spaces and the like. The living quarters are much more humble, and these are the quarters of a Knight or Master who has no Padawan," she explained. "Meant to house only one person, though there's room enough at the table for more."

"I'm putting you out," Padme said with realisation. Unhappy realisation at that.

Obi-Wan shrugged easily. "I have quarters aboard my ship, and when I have a lot of work to do on it, I sometimes just sleep there rather than stumbling back to my quarters late in the evening," she said. "And I have a lot of work to do in the next couple of days," she added.

Padme frowned. "Will I see you at all before you go?" he asked.

"Oh, I won't be completely absent," Obi-Wan answered with an easy smile. "I've got packing to do, two kitchens to stock -"

"Two?" Padme interrupted, curious.

"The one here, for you to use, and the one aboard my ship, which I'll need while I'm travelling. I've got a long flight ahead of me," Obi-Wan explained. "And I've got laundry to fetch back as well," she added softly with a thoughtful frown. She'd had two days worth of clean uniforms when she'd returned from Ansion, but now apart from the one she was wearing, and had been wearing the night before, she only had one clean set left. She'd need more than that before she left Coruscant behind for a planet beyond the Outer Rim, and so had sent all of her other clothing down to the Temple laundry before she'd gone to collect Padme from his apartment. She would have to collect her cleaned personals some time early the next morning.

Padme had been investigating the self-contained little apartment while Obi-Wan had been talking – the holocapture on the wall of a younger Obi-Wan with Master Qui-Gon, the set of shelves that had a different half-finished project on each tier, the single, slim couch beside an end-table that was the resting place of notebooks and datapads alike.

"Where will I sleep while I'm here?" Padme finally asked.

"My bedroom," Obi-Wan answered frankly. "I'll be sleeping on my couch, unless I sleep on my ship," she explained.

"Obi-Wan, I- I can't take your bed!" Padme objected, his brown eyes wide and his cheeks turning pink.

Obi-Wan raised an amused eyebrow at her friend. "I don't have cooties," she told him, fighting down the urge to smile.

"That's not it," Padme protested hotly, pink cheeks now decidedly red. "Obi-Wan, it's your bed! You should be the one to sleep in it!"

"You're simply too long to be able to fit comfortably on my couch, Padme," Obi-Wan countered with a small smile. "Whereas I have fallen asleep there before, and I fit without issue. It truly isn't a problem," she promised.

Padme still looked uncomfortable – and red – but gave a silent, relenting, nod of his head.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan had left Padme in her apartment – the Senator had a lot of documents to read over regardless of where he was, and using the comm unit in her rooms, Padme could monitor Jar-Jar and his decoy here on Coruscant – and was working on her ship in the Temple hangar.

She had already placed orders for the various supplies she would need, and all of that was due to be delivered some time in the afternoon. For now, she had panels to polish, servers to run maintenance checks on, and minor modifications to upgrade. And she had R2 to help her, the little astromech beeping and whirring happily as he did this or that task, and he'd gotten to show off his jets by using them to get himself on top of her ship. It was really very thoughtful of Padme to lend him to her.

She'd just finished another upgrade to her communications relay servers when a green head popped up over the side of her ship where the ladder was.

"Ah, you are here Obi-Wan."

"Master Fisto," Obi-Wan answered, bowing her head to the Council member as she closed the panel and secured it back in place.

At the same time, Master Fisto pulled himself fully onto the top of the ship, so they could speak more easily without having to call across the expanse between them.

"How goes the investigation?" Obi-Wan asked curiously

"Zam Wesell was killed just as we were about to get the name of her employer," Fisto admitted solemnly. "I recognised her killer though, so we have a lead."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Master Fisto, as much as I appreciate getting an update, I don't understand why I am," she admitted. "Simply to pass on?"

Master Fisto shook his head. "No, Obi-Wan. Rather, because the one responsible for silencing Zam Wesell is Jango Fett," he explained. "I had my Padawan investigate the weapon he used, but the droids in the archives don't recognise it."

"Dex probably would," Obi-Wan offered. "That old Besalisk knows most everything," she added fondly.

Master Fisto chuckled. "I agree," he said. "Which is why I went down to his diner and introduced my Padawan to him. Nahdar is currently back in the archives, looking for confirmation of Mister Jettster's directions... to Kamino."

"Master Fisto, it is my intention to be on Kamino for roughly a month," Obi-Wan informed him plainly. "I don't think you want to stay that long," she pointed out. "Especially since I've yet to manage to be on Kamino at the same time as Jango Fett."

Master Fisto nodded his understanding. "My Padawan and I will take another ship, but if I may rely on you for introductions on Kamino?" he requested. "And back-up, if it should be needed?"

"Of course, Master Fisto," Obi-Wan replied instantly.

"Master? Master! Master? Master you said you'd be in the hangar!" a young voice complained from almost directly below them. "I can feel your presence is here somewhere, but I can't see you. Master, where are you?" it called out.

Obi-Wan shared an amused look with Master Fisto, who rolled his eyes in vaguely exasperated amusement with his Padawan.

The Council member then proceeded to jump down off Obi-Wan's ship, while she simply moved on to the next task that needed to be tended to from outside of the hull.

"Master!"

"What did you find, Nahdar?" Master Fisto asked his Padawan.

"Kamino isn't in the Archives, Master," the Mon Calamari Padawan replied.

"What?!" Obi-Wan yelped quietly, an exclamation that was covered by Master Fisto expressing the same incredulity at the same moment.

"This must be taken to Master Yoda," the Nautolan declared solemnly.

"Not there?" Obi-Wan muttered to herself as the Master and his Padawan left the hangar. "But it was there when _I_ looked ten years ago... which means it's been removed," she realised. "Only a Jedi could have... or someone who used to be a Jedi," she amended thoughtfully.

R2 chirped a warbling query, and Obi-Wan shook her head.

"You're right Artoo," she told him. "I've still got work to do on the _Valiant_ before leaving, and Master Fisto, I'm certain, will have this matter well in hand."

Obi-Wan moved on to making sure the weapons system she'd installed in her ship would work, R2 at her side. Once she got the outside jobs done, she'd run a systems check from the cockpit, and then come back out for any more fine-tuning that might be needed.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan said her goodbyes to Padme and R2 – the little astromech was put out to be staying behind, but Padme needed his help for carefully relaying communications to his decoys, so his true hiding place wouldn't be detected – and with a nod to the Masters, _Valiant_ retracted her landing gear. In another part of the hangar, Master Fisto's ship was also taking off.

The flight through hyperspace was silent aboard Obi-Wan's ship. Communications couldn't be transmitted when travelling this way, and she no longer borrowed holocrons to keep her company on this flight. Now she just read, brushed up on her more restrained saber forms, and meditated during the trip.

"Obi-Wan," Master Fisto's voice came over the comm link almost a week later, once they were out of hyperspace, and his face appearing in holographic blue. "Is that it?"

"Yes Master Fisto," she answered him as she considered the view of the planet – and the Council Member's craft – out of her cockpit. "That's Kamino."

"Our missing planet," Master Fisto grumbled lightly. "Hopefully our bounty hunter won't also be missing. Kamino is our only lead in this investigation."

"Hopefully you will take the time to check on my running assignment," Obi-Wan countered. "The Prime Minister might take offence if a Council Member came, and then didn't check on its progress."

"I have no desire to give offence," Master Fisto answered easily, a smile on his face. "Lead the way."

Obi-Wan brought her ship in to land on one of the platforms that was constructed over the planet-wide ocean, careful to leave enough space for Master Fisto's ship to land beside her own, and collected a wonderful invention she had learned of eight years ago called an umbrella. Master Fisto and his apprentice might enjoy the large amounts of water Kamino had to offer, but Obi-Wan wasn't of an aquatic or amphibious species as they were.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Taun We greeted with a smile once she and the other two Jedi were inside. "It is good to see you again."

"Hello Taun We," Obi-Wan returned in kind, an easy smile on her own face. "This is Master Kit Fisto, of the Jedi Council, and his Padawan, Nahdar Vebb," she introduced.

"A pleasure," Taun We offered with a slight bow of her head.

"Is everything on schedule?" Obi-Wan asked as they walked.

"Oh yes," Taun We agreed. "Two-hundred thousand units are ready, with a million more well on the way."

"That is good news," Master Fisto said. "The Council fears the Separatists wish to incite war, and Jedi are not soldiers. They will be needed, should the worst come to pass."

"Taun We, would it be possible for Master Fisto to have a meeting with the Prime Minister?" Obi-Wan enquired. "My reports to the Council cannot convey the true awe of what you do here."

"Of course," Taun We replied. "You know that Prime Minister Lama Su always looks forward to your visits Obi-Wan."

"I am also interested in meeting Jango Fett," Master Fisto said. "If that is possible? I should like to convey the Council's thanks for his efforts."

Taun We smiled again. "You are in luck," she said. "He has just returned three days before you arrived." Taun We then turned to Obi-Wan. "Finally your arrival and his coincide," she teased lightly, something only familiarity brought out in a Kaminoan. As a race, they were always very polite.

Obi-Wan smiled back. "Boba will be pleased," she answered freely.


	15. Chapter 15

"Jedi Knight Kenobi," Prime Minister Lama Su greeted as he rose from his chair.

"Prime Minister Lama Su," Obi-Wan replied, and gave the tall humanoid a deep, respectful bow. "I am warm in my heart, seeing you again. Congratulations on your re-election."

"Thank you, Knight Kenobi," Lama Su answered, then shifted his large eyes to the two figures that had come with her and Taun We.

"May I present Master Kit Fisto, a Master of the Jedi Council, and his Padawan learner, Nahdar Vebb," Obi-Wan presented. "Master Fisto, this is the Prime Minister of Kamino, the honourable Lama Su," she added, just as formally.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lama Su offered to the Jedi with a regal tilt of his head.

"It is our privilege to make yours, Prime Minister," Master Fisto countered, then glanced over at Obi-Wan and smiled. "But I must tell you, the Council promoted Obi-Wan Kenobi from the rank of Knight after her return from her last mission. She's a Jedi Master now."

"Oh? Congratulations, Master Kenobi," Lama Su said with a smile.

She bowed. "Thank you, your honour," she replied softly.

Lama Su hummed in amusement. "I see you still have difficulty accepting your due recognition," he observed lightly. "Your humility does you credit, Master Kenobi, but you should be careful not to let it cripple you."

Obi-Wan bowed in deference to the effective ruler of Kamino.

"I think a tour is in order, Taun We," Lama Su decided.

"Of course," the aid answered with a regal inclination of her head.

"The Council have heard great things from Master Kenobi," Master Fisto said. "I look forward to actually being able to bear witness to the wonders she tells us about when she makes her reports, and hopefully meeting the other contributor to this project."

"I would be glad to arrange it," Taun We offered easily.

~oOo~

"Hello Boba," Obi-Wan greeted the boy with a smile when he answered the door.

The now ten-year-old boy smiled back. "Hi Aunt Obi," he answered. "Come in!"

Obi-Wan followed the boy into his apartment.

"I don't believe it! I was beginning to think it would never happen!" the child exclaimed, waving his arms around. "You're finally here at the same time as my dad!"

"Am I really?" she queried, eyes wide with fake surprise – not that the boy noticed or could tell that it was fake.

"Yup," Boba confirmed. "Dad!" he called. "Dad, the Jedi I've been telling you about is here!"

A man with the same light-brown skin as Boba, his black hair more closely trimmed than the child's, and wearing a loose, comfortable-looking blue shirt over dark trousers stepped into the living area of the quarters.

"So this is what the infamous Jango Fett looks like beneath his armour," Obi-Wan commented as she looked him over. "I mean, I know what the clones all look like, but I wasn't sure if you might not have interesting scars or tattoos or something."

"Infamous?" Jango asked, eyebrow raised, even as he smirked at the woman's latter comment about scars and tattoos.

"You have a reputation," Obi-Wan replied easily, her best 'coy' smirk in place.

"Hey, Aunt Obi, what was your latest mission?" Boba asked hopefully.

"I had to protect a Senator of the Galactic Republic," Obi-Wan answered, and scooped the boy up to sit him on her hip. "Oof," she grunted. "You're getting too big for this," she quipped at him.

Boba just laughed happily. Little kids were always so excited about getting bigger.

Obi-Wan shook her head and sat down on the couch, shifting Boba to sit beside her, rather than on her.

"Why did the Senator need protecting?" Boba pressed.

"Well, it might be because Senator Amidala – that's the Senator I was protecting – thinks that it would cause a war to break out if the Republic decided to form an army, and has been working very hard to make sure that there won't be one," Obi-Wan explained.

Boba raised an incredulous eyebrow and looked out the window to where all the clones were having their lessons and doing their drills.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "The Senate don't know about them," she explained, "but I'm only guessing about why someone wants Senator Amidala dead. For now, he's safe, with different Jedi protectors, and the investigation is being handled by a Master of the Council."

Boba's eyes got big. "Wow," he breathed. "This Senator must be important, if a Master of the Council is investigating. Do you think I'll ever get to meet any other Jedi?" Boba asked, a little wistfully.

Boba had asked that question before. Obi-Wan had always answered that it was possible, but she really couldn't say for sure. This time, she shook her head with a smile.

"Oh yes," she told him. "It's very likely, at this point."  
"Really?!" Boba asked, eyes wide and sparkling.

Obi-Wan held up a hand to calm the boy, aware as she was that Jango – who was behind Boba and keeping an close eye on their interaction – had stiffened up.

"Boba, you know how I told you that sometimes bounty hunters like your father work _with_ Jedi, and sometimes they work at cross-purposes?" Obi-Wan checked, her voice gentle.

Boba nodded solemnly.

"A bounty hunter was the one trying to kill the Senator I was protecting," Obi-Wan explained, "but before she could tell Master Fisto -"

"He's the one investigating who wants to kill Senator Amidala?" Boba questioned.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Only seconds before she could tell Master Fisto who had hired her, another bounty hunter killed her, and Master Fisto recognised that bounty hunter," she said, and looked up from the boy to look over his head to Jango.

Boba turned in his seat to look at his father, a curious, slightly worried expression on his young face.

Jango nodded in confirmation. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that was me that killed Zam," he admitted shortly.

"Just good business," Obi-Wan agreed pleasantly. "But not really my business," she admitted with a small smile. "That investigation is Master Fisto's jurisdiction now. I'm just burning with curiosity as to the name of the person that got you involved with _this_ project," she said as she looked pointedly out the window to the clones. "I have been for ten years," she added a little ruefully.

"Man called Tyrannus," Jango answered, slightly more relaxed since she wasn't going to question him about who'd hired him for the hit on someone she had been protecting. But only slightly.

"Tyrannus, Tyrannus," Obi-Wan muttered to herself, and rifled through her pockets until she'd found a portable holo-projector that had a couple of stored captures on it. One of Master Sifo-Dyas, and the other of the last person to see him before Obi-Wan herself: Count Dooku. "This him?" she asked, and brought up the holo of Master Sifo-Dyas.

Jango shook his head easily.

Obi-Wan flicked the image to Count Dooku.

Jango nodded, though this was a more reluctant gesture. "That's Tyrannus," he agreed.

Obi-Wan smiled and silently thanked the Force. "He's a good man," she praised softly. "A bit too much of an idealist sometimes, but if more people just wanted to make the galaxy a better place to live... well, you'd probably be out of a job sooner than later."

Jango only chuckled, and gave no other answer.

"Well, Master Fisto and his Padawan are probably done with their tour of the clones by now," Obi-Wan said as she checked her chronometer. "I'd better head down and check their saber drills. See you later Boba," she promised, and mussed his hair fondly. "Jango Fett, an honour. Hopefully we won't ever be in a position where you're trying to directly kill someone I'm protecting. I believe it would be more than a bit frustrating," she offered, and held out her hand to shake.

"For both of us," Jango agreed, and accepted the hand. "But that's the business."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Nothing personal," she agreed neutrally, and with one last wave to Boba, she headed for the door – just as the chime sounded to announce that there was someone waiting beyond it.

Taun We with Master Fisto and Padawan Vebb.

Obi-Wan left them to it, while she quietly made a report into her recording device as she headed down the hallway to the training area.

~oOo~

Master Fisto had left Kamino with his Padawan two days before, following after Jango Fett when he'd decided that staying on the planet at the same time as the Jedi investigating him was bad for his ability to sleep with both eyes closed. Now, Obi-Wan's training of the clones was interrupted by Taun We, who announced that there was a communication for her from Master Fisto.

"Alice, take over," Obi-Wan instructed one of the more senior clones, one who'd developed a slightly sadistic sense of humour – though thankfully only when it came to training drills.

Alice saluted Obi-Wan with a grin, and Obi-Wan left the clones to their training.

"Master Fisto," Obi-Wan greeted the blue holographic in the centre of the communication chamber.

"Master Kenobi. We've followed Jango Fett to a red planet," the Nautolan stated. "As someone who can get away with it, I'm requesting a change of duties."

"You want me to take over the investigation on a planet that's going to be very dry, while you return to the ocean planet I'm currently on?" Obi-Wan clarified.

"That is correct," Master Fisto confirmed. "My apprentice and I are both amphibious species, and capable of continuing on, but I'd just as soon avoid it if there is an alternative, and you did agree to come in if I called for back-up," he pointed out.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes Master," she agreed.

"Forwarding co-ordinates and the signal frequency for the tracking device that my Padawan placed on Jango Fett's ship," Master Fisto said. "We're in orbit around the planet right now, and will remain so until you reach us. We'll contact the Temple, then head back to Kamino when you get here."

"Yes Master," she answered with an obedient nod. "I hope I can call on you for back-up if it turns out I should need it when I land."

"Of course," Master Fisto agreed quickly. "As I said, we can continue. I'm just abusing my privileges a little. I like ocean planets a great deal more than desert ones."

When the communication ended, Obi-Wan left to inform Taun We and Prime Minister Lama Su of the change in plans.

"We are sorry to see you go so soon," Lama Su stated. "But we understand that duty calls."

"Master Fisto will be a good instructor when he returns," Obi-Wan promised. "He has been a Master much longer than I, and is better acquainted with different saber styles."

Lama Su and Taun We chuckled softly at that. Obi-Wan had been teaching the units since she was just freshly a Knight, after all, and to their minds, she had been doing a fine job.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan drew level with Master Fisto's ship just outside the asteroid belt that surrounded the red planet, Geonosis, and exchanged visuals through the cockpit windows. She then headed down towards the planet while the ship of the amphibious Jedi Master pulled back and away. Obi-Wan marked the time, made note again of the trade-off in missions, her current location, and then began the entry-sequence that would take her down to the planet surface near where the homing device on Fett's ship was.

She landed, and turned on her holorecorder as the ramp was lowering. She didn't want to risk missing anything, just in case the smallest detail was important. Granted, there was a bit of a walk from where she'd landed to the nearest settlement, but there was no harm in being prepared.

It didn't take her long, after arriving at one of the towering spires that was part of the local architecture, to find a droid assembly line.

"We must persuade the Commerce Guild and the Corporate Alliance to sign the treaty," a deep voice echoed out from near by where Obi-Wan was hiding.

She checked her recording devices. Yes, images and sound. She'd definitely caught _that_ on record for the Council.

"What about the Senator from Naboo?" enquired a somewhat familiar voice. Nute Gunray walked into Obi-Wan's line of sight with Count Dooku and a few other figures. "Is he dead yet? I'm not signing your treaty until I have his head on my desk."

Well, that certainly explained a few things.

"I am a man of my word, Viceroy," Count Dooku assured the Neimoidian.

"With these new battle droids we built for you, we'll have the finest army in the galaxy," another of the party declared, assured.

When they had past, Obi-Wan slipped out of her hiding place to follow them, but carefully. She had no desire to be caught in the same room as these... conspirators.

"As I explained to you earlier, I am _quite_ convinced that ten-thousand more systems will rally to our cause, with your support, gentlemen," Count Dooku said as they sat around a large, illuminated conference table.

One of those present at the table pointed out that their actions could be considered treason, while two more pledged their support.

Dooku declared that the combination of their armies with the army of the Trade Federation – which had also pledged support – would mean an army greater than any in the galaxy.

Obi-Wan wondered if Dooku really knew the extent of the clone army on Kamino, even if he had sent Fett to the Kaminoans. Then again, it had been arranged ten years before, and it was entirely possible that he didn't know about the Kaminoan's growth accelerators.

"The Jedi will be overwhelmed," Dooku declared solemnly. "The Republic will agree to any demands we make."

Obi-Wan kept her breath measured. She had no desire to be found in such a position. Geonosis was not the most friendly of planets at the best of times, and she was present covertly. She watched the rest of the meeting until all present dispersed to their own matters, and then similarly went about her own. She had no reason to pursue Jango Fett any further. She'd found his employer, after all.

Time to relay what she'd found to the Council.

It was a damn good thing she'd made sure to have superior communication transmission capabilities on _Valiant_ when she was making her modifications and upgrades. Genosis was a long way from Coruscant.

"Master Yoda," she greeted with a small measure of relief as she patched the communication through.

"Obi-Wan," Master Yoda answered. "News of the investigation, you have?"

"Yes Master," she replied. "I have a holorecording which I am forwarding to you now, and my report to give. Master Fisto tracked Jango Fett, and upon taking up the trail he gave me, I have found his employer to be a familiar face: Count Dooku. He may have been a political idealist once, Master Yoda, but I couldn't say for certain that he still is. Count Dooku is now a leader of the Separatist faction, and more than willing to use force to get what he wants from the Republic."

Yoda gave an unhappy sigh. "Disturbing, this news is," he muttered with a sad shake of his head.

"The Trade Federation is to take delivery of a droid army on Geonosis, and Viceroy Nute Gunray is behind the assassination attempts against Senator Amidala. The commerce guilds, and the corporate alliance, have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku. They are forming a – wait," she cut herself off, and looked out of her cockpit at where rolling destroyers were approaching. "I hope you'll excuse me. I have to either flee or fight right now."

"Remain on Genosis," Master Yoda instructed. "More, you may learn there. Back-up, you will have soon," he promised.

"Yes Master," Obi-Wan agreed a little tightly as she powered up the ship's deflector shields to maximum. The communication ended, and Obi-Wan moved to the small hatch where an astromech might be deployed from, if she actually kept one on board. She exited the _Valiant_ that way, and went down to meet the attacking droids.

It wasn't all that difficult to slice through them. Lightsaber resistant metals had _not_ been used in the construction of these droids, it seemed. But then, such metals were quite hard to come by.

When an organic life-form arrived to take her into custody, however, Obi-Wan surrendered. Of course, she was careful to keep her holographic recorder turned on, and Master Qui-Gon's lightsaber tucked away and hidden on her person where it wouldn't be found. She had to hand over her own lightsaber though. She'd used it rather obviously, while she always kept her Master's exclusively as an emergency back-up. She could dual-wield, but she didn't care for it, and almost never used it outside of the training halls.

~oOo~

It was a very interesting cell she was put in, and very interesting restraints too. She was sorely tempted to do an impression of a much younger Anakin and ask as many questions as she could before she ran out of breath, even as they installed her.

Count Dooku came to her not long after.

"Oh no, my friend," Count Dooku exclaimed as he looked up at where she was floating. "This is a mistake. A terrible mistake. They've gone too far! This is madness!"

"Aw, you care," Obi-Wan cooed. "And here I was under the impression you were the one in charge around here."

"This had nothing to do with me, I assure you," Dooku answered firmly, shaking his head as he began to pace around the room.

Really, that was only polite. Obi-Wan's restraints had her turning around like a relic on display, rather than a captured prisoner. That was certainly an interesting thought. Vaguely demeaning, but interesting all the same. Still, Dooku walked around the room so that it was easier for them both to communicate without Obi-Wan's neck being put out of joint as she tried to keep him in her line of sight.

"I will petition immediately to have you set free," Dooku assured her.

"Much appreciated. Only I hope it doesn't take too long," she quipped. "Even a Jedi can only control their bodily functions for so long."

Count Dooku winced slightly at that. "May I ask," he pressed on, "why a Jedi Knight is all the way out here, on Geonosis?" he enquired.

"Certainly, go right ahead, but to my knowledge there are no Knights on Geonosis," Obi-Wan answered lightly. She did get a bit of a kick out of playing word games with her opponents, and she so rarely got to. It was mostly something she did with Padme and Jar-Jar these days, and those were never so dangerous as this one. It sent an extra little zing of adrenaline through her veins.

"Oh? You have been promoted? Congratulations, _Master_ Kenobi," Dooku offered with a slight (and genuine, for all that it was small) smile. "But then I would like to inquire why a Jedi Master is all the way out here."

"What would any Jedi be doing out here, Count Dooku?" she countered. "Surely you haven't been gone from the Order so long as to have forgotten what a standard mission is like. Or is old age setting in? You aren't as young as you used to be, Count Dooku."

"It is a great pity our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan," Dooku said with a hint of a chuckle. "Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you."

Obi-Wan scoffed. "I'm the entire reason his hair had all turned grey before he was out of his forties," she quipped, though there was a smile of fond remembrance on her face that well-matched the one of sad longing on Dooku's.

"I wish he was still alive," Dooku said softly. "I could use his help right now."

"Focus on the moment," Obi-Wan offered.

Count Dooku let out a short, surprised, honest and bright laugh at that. "Yes, that is just what he would say," he agreed. "My old apprentice, just as you were once his. Did he teach you anything of the corruption in the Senate?"

"He didn't need to," Obi-Wan replied, and shrugged as best she could in her restraints. "I have eyes and ears that work perfectly well."

"And have you learned the truth of what is going on there?" Dooku pressed.

"Which truth?" Obi-Wan asked with a faint smile. "That democracy doesn't work when greedy people get in the way? That fewer and fewer Senators are actually public servants while more and more of them are politicians?"

" _The_ truth," Dooku cut off. "What if I were to tell you that the Senate is under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith?" he asked.

"I do hope you're being hypothetical," Obi-Wan replied flatly. "Surely the Council would have been aware of such a thing."

"The Dark Side of the Force has clouded their vision," Dooku countered sadly. "Hundreds of Senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord," he proclaimed, and anger leaked into his expression, overtaking the sadness. "Called Darth Sidious."

"Interesting name," Obi-Wan muttered thoughtfully. Of course, with the room being otherwise empty and very acoustically designed, even her mutterings weren't private. She could not dismiss this out of hand. She could feel the Force resonating, even as she also felt the corruption that was slowly overtaking the man before her.

He was an enemy of the Jedi, but in this, he spoke the truth.

"The Viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this Darth Sidious, but he was betrayed, ten years ago. He came to me for help, told me everything," Dooku explained. "You must join me, Obi-Wan," Dooku insisted. "Together, we will destroy the Sith!"

"I'm good, but I'm no 'Chosen One'," Obi-Wan countered. "Tyrannus."

Dooku frowned. "Where... did you learn that name?" he asked.

"From a bounty hunter," Obi-Wan replied. "The same one that led me here."

"There are no bounty hunters on Geonosis," Dooku denied. "The Geonosians don't trust them."

"I said he led me here," Obi-Wan pointed out with a small smirk. "I didn't say that he still was."

Dooku smoothed his expression and moved towards the door. Just before he exited he turned back to her. "It may be difficult to secure your release," he said.

"Just so long as I get to use a fresher," Obi-Wan replied easily. "And sooner, rather than later."


	16. Chapter 16

It was Boba who came to see Obi-Wan next, and his adorable little face was all frown-y.

"You're gonna be executed," he informed her unhappily.

Obi-Wan did her best to shrug with the bindings that were holding her in place. "Occupational hazard," she admitted.

"I asked Dad if we could be the ones to escort you to the fresher before you get taken out to the arena," Boba said. "Apparently, that's being counted as your 'last request'."

Obi-Wan shrugged again. "A girl can take a long time in the fresher," she pointed out. "And I'd hate to look less than my best when I'm about to face my death," she tried to joke.

Boba's eyes were a little glassy.

"Hey now, no tears for me," she instructed kindly, though she had to twist her head by now to keep her eyes on his face.

"But you're gonna die!" Boba protested.

"Ah, well, the Jedi Code would argue that there is no death, only the Force," Obi-Wan offered to the child. "The current Code, anyway. An older code says 'death, _yet_ the Force'."

Boba sniffled a little. "What's that mean?" he asked. "You've talked about the Jedi Codes before, but you never got around to explaining that part."

"It means that, when I die, I'll become one with the Force, and the Force is everywhere, so I'm not really going anywhere," Obi-Wan explained. Then frowned to herself. "Does that make sense?" she asked.

Boba gave a weak chuckle. "Kind of," he allowed. "Even when you're not here, you'll still stick around."

Obi-Wan nodded. "That's right," she approved. "Of course, I'm still somewhat attached to being able to eat chocolate, even if I'm a Jedi and therefore not supposed to have attachments, so I'm not totally thrilled about dying right now," she admitted a little ruefully.

As intended, that got Boba to laugh a little more.

Then the door opened again behind him, and Jango entered.

"Jedi," he greeted.

"It's wonderful to see you again Jango," Obi-Wan offered with a smile. "I understand you're going to escort me to my execution?" she asked.

Jango coughed, and even with his face-concealing helmet on, it was clear that he was uncomfortable. "Yeah," he agreed. "Just business."

"Oh yes, I understand completely," she agreed. "No offence taken, or intended."

" _What have I told you about your flippancy in the face of mortal peril?"_ Qui-Gon's voice hissed in her ear.

Obi-Wan resisted the urge to answer her master's Force Ghost aloud. "So, who claimed my lightsaber after I was captured?" she asked instead.

Boba smiled widely at that. "I did," he answered.

"May it serve you well," Obi-Wan bid with sincere solemnity.

Jango got her down, and once Boba had claimed a hug, they escorted Obi-Wan to the fresher – where a hairbrush and several hair ties were waiting for her, along with working facilities. She was still handcuffed, but she was able to use them all the same, and gratefully did so before emerging to let the bounty hunter and his son lead her to the arena where she was slated to die that day.

~oOo~

"Sith leading the Separatists, Sith manipulating the Senate," she grumbled as her bound hands were attached to a chain, and the chain attached to the top of the column she had been backed up against – one of five in the execution arena. "It's all just one big party where, whoever loses, the Sith win. _Great_ ," she drawled to herself. "And me about to be executed before I can bring proof back to the Council. That..."

A nexu was released from its cage and out into the arena.

"... bites," Obi-Wan finished softly as she focused on the animal. "Aw, I always wanted a pet nexu," she cooed falsely, sarcasm rearing up as a coping mechanism.

She jumped when the nexu came close enough to take a swipe at her, and grabbed onto the chain so that she didn't fall back down to quite the same level. With that in hand, it wasn't difficult to climb to the very top of the column. There, while she waited for the nexu to also climb the stone column, Obi-Wan carefully picked the lock of her cuffs through very careful manipulation of the Force. The cuffs she was wearing now weren't the kind to inhibit her connection to the Force, so it was really no great difficulty. Just delicate work and a little time consuming.

The nexu reached her just as she was shedding the cuffs.

Obi-Wan leapt across to the top of the next column, only able to make the jump thanks to a little help from the Force. The four-eyed feline creature snarled and dropped, forced to climb up a whole new column to reach its prey.

Just as it nearly reached her again, Obi-Wan repeated her previous aerobatic feat and moved to the next stone column. She was stalling for time as much as she was doing her best to put off her own death at the teeth of the nexu that was once again circling the column she was standing on, picking its angle to climb up after her.

After all, she had managed to get word through to Master Yoda before she'd been captured. A rescue – or at least back-up – would come. She really just needed to survive until it got here.

That shouldn't be too hard.

Right?

Beneath the cheering and roaring of the very appreciative crowd – the inhabitants of Geonosis really liked to watch a bit of sport before the (believed) inevitable death occurred – a new sound reached Obi-Wan's ears as she flipped away from the nexu again.

A snap-hiss, followed by a familiar hum.

All around the stadium stood Jedi, their lightsabers ignited, each one of them ready for battle. The Geonosians didn't attack them though. Rather, a battalion of battle droids marched out into the arena.

Obi-Wan frowned slightly as she took in the sight of all the figures carrying so many green and blue lightsabers, and she could also see that a number of them were also carrying a blaster in their off-hand. They weren't Jedi, as she had first assumed, as if the presence of blasters hadn't been enough of a give-away. The Jedi Order may have had a sort-of uniform – robes – but there was plenty of room for individuality in dress with that loose standard. Yes, every Jedi owned a robe of the same pattern, in the same brown – even Master Yoda owned one, though he never wore it. As Grand Master, his robe was white these days, but he still _owned_ his old brown robe, even if it was never worn any more.

These people carrying lightsabers weren't wearing robes though. They were wearing an armoured uniform.

All but two figures. One a Nautolan, the other a Mon Cal. It appeared that Master Fisto had brought a squad of Obi-Wan's clones. That should even the odds a little!

~oOo~

Obi-Wan finally got away from the main fighting. She had excellent motivation to do so when she found young Boba in the middle of it all. The kid was genuinely adorable, and she had no intention of leaving him where he would almost definitely get hurt.

"Come on," she said firmly as she scooped him up. "Open warfare is no place for younglings."

"But Aunt Obi, Dad's out there!" Boba protested. He didn't wriggle, he knew better to do that when Obi-Wan spoke that way. He wanted to though.

"And he's working," Obi-Wan answered. "If this turns out to be the day his job catches up to him, then I don't want you to see it. If he comes out just fine, then you've got the frequency to call him, don't you?"

Boba nodded.

"I'll see to it you're taken back to Kamino, and you can call and wait for him there," Obi-Wan said.

"And... if Dad..." Boba hesitated.

"Then I'll see to it you're taken care of," Obi-Wan promised. "There are other Mandalorians still kicking about around the galaxy. I'm sure they'd take you in, if you wanted. Or I know a really sweet lady who I'm sure will be pleased to mother you, since her son is just about all grown up. Of course, that's only if your dad doesn't make it out of this, and he's hard to kill."

Boba sniffed, but nodded again and even managed a small smile for her.

Obi-Wan smiled back and gave the boy a quick kiss to his forehead. By that time, they'd reached one of the craft that Master Yoda had brought along to the party, loaded with more Jedi and a lot more clones. Master Fisto had brought along as many of her clones as would fit in his ship, but Master Yoda had collected several companies worth of both sets of clones. Obi-Wan past Boba up to one of Jango's clones, accepted a hand from one of her own, and climbed aboard.

Whereupon she was met with a not-wholly-pleasant surprise.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Padme said, a scowl on his face. "You have a _lot_ of explaining to do."

"And I promise to explain," Obi-Wan answered with an only slightly apologetic, crooked little smile. "But as that explanation will be a rather long one, I hope you will appreciate that this is neither the time or place for me to give it."

Padme folded his arms over his chest, but nodded in agreement.

"Captain! Take off!" Obi-Wan called up to the pilot. "By the way Padme, what are you doing here?" she asked as the transport began to rise. As if there weren't more important matters than the presence of a diplomat on the battle field. "Follow that skimmer!" Obi-Wan added to the pilot when she saw Count Dooku making a break for it.

"Master Yoda relayed to me the change in your mission status," Padme said as their craft lurched into motion, off after Tyrannus. "As much as I don't want to be away from Coruscant during the vote, I thought that tagging along on a rescue mission wouldn't necessarily cause me to miss it. Now..."

Obi-Wan grimaced at the blatant displeasure on her friend's face.

"Think of them as support for the over-stretched Jedi, rather than an army," she suggested.

"Obi-Wan..." Padme growled.

"We are over-stretched," Obi-Wan protested, and gestured to the battlefield below them. Droid army against a legion of clones, just a few true Jedi among them. Land assault weapons from Kamino – definitely not part of the Jedi's regular arsenal – were targeting starships that were making their take-off.

"Jedi Kenobi! We're gaining on the skimmer!" the captain called back.

"Is it in range of artillery?" Obi-Wan demanded.

"He is for me," answered a voice that was exactly the same as Obi-Wan's, and a feminine clone in armour slid past Padme and Obi-Wan to take her place on the side-mounted laser-canon.

"Take out his escort first," Boba suggested. "Aunt Obi can fight him when we catch up, but a lightsaber can't do much about cannons on ships. Oh!" he said softly, and rummaged through his clothes as the clone turned her cannon on Dooku's escort ships. A moment later, he'd produced Obi-Wan's lightsaber. "I only took it because I hoped I'd be able to give it back to you, Aunt Obi," he told her softly as he held it out to her.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said as she accepted her lightsaber back solemnly. "Do you have a blaster?" she asked him.

Boba grinned an innocent, boyish, little-devil grin.

Obi-Wan rolled her eyes fondly.

"I'll take that as a yes," she grumbled good-naturedly, and mussed his hair fondly.

"And what exactly are we going to do when we catch up with Dooku?" Padme asked, clearly setting aside just how unhappy he was with everything for brutal practicality. "We could probably stand to have some help."

"No time to fetch reinforcements I'm afraid. I'll engage Dooku," Obi-Wan answered. "Can you and Boba sabotage or steal his ship while I've got his attention?"

"Yeah!" Boba agreed, eager to help his Aunt Obi.

Padme nodded.

"Good," Obi-Wan said firmly. "Who's here?" she called over the clones.

"Squad Tango-Delta-One," the nearest clone answered her.

"Then I'll have Tess, Tamitha and Tulie back me up facing Dooku," Obi-Wan decided. "Dann, Dennis, I want you two to cover Padme and Boba. That will leave Tenning and Delor on the guns and Daviid to pilot this craft."

"Yes Ma'am!" the clones snapped in agreement.

~oOo~

"Master Kenobi, you constantly surprise me," Dooku said with a smile.

"I'm good at that," Obi-Wan agreed. "Formation 'No Wind'," she called over her three clones, and snapped her lightsaber up.

Three more snap-hisses echoed to either side of her, and Tess charged first. When Dooku pushed her back, Tamitha took her place, letting Tess take a breath – and not letting Dooku catch his. After Tamitha went Tulie, then Obi-Wan moved in.

Four young people against an old one... When the Force was involved, age was not as much of a handicap as it was an advantage, and in truth, three of those facing Dooku had lived only ten years – there was most certainly a disparity in skill. Thanks to the Kaminoan education system and Obi-Wan drilling her clones, however, it was not as great as it could have been.

And Obi-Wan herself was now recognised as a Master Jedi.

It was five minutes of relentless attacks and counter-attacks, with no hits being landed at all. Dooku wasn't just having to defend against Obi-Wan's favoured two styles, after all. Even though they were clones, they had their own preferences for the lightsaber styles.

Tamitha favoured Shii-cho, the very first of the lightsaber forms, and the basic one upon which all others had been built. It was wide-sweeping, wild and raw, but Tamitha had practised so hard in the most basic style that she was fluid and dangerous.

But Dooku's favoured, the second form, was meant to correct all the weaknesses of the first form.

Tulie liked Ateru, and she was good at it. The acrobatics demanded by the fourth form were really her thing. That it was also the most aggressive of the standard forms didn't bother her at all either.

Tess was more straight-forward. She used the fifth: Shien, or Djem So. It was an aggressive development of the defensive third form Soresu, which Obi-Wan herself favoured.

Between the 'determination' form, the 'aggressive' form and the 'perseverance' form of her clones, and her own 'resilience' and 'moderation' forms, Obi-Wan thought they were doing well. Dooku may have been a natural fencer and a master of Makashi (the 'contention' form), but under such onslaught, even he was only just holding up.

Or so it seemed, until Dooku slashed off the hand Tess held her lightsaber with. The first strike actually landed on any of them, and he'd been the one to make it. Not any of them.

She stumbled away from the fight with a cry of pain, and sank back against the wall out of the way of the still-active combatants. With her only remaining hand, she pulled off her helmet.

"Over-under!" Obi-Wan called to Tamitha and Tulie.

Tamitha moved to one side of Dooku, and at the same time, Obi-Wan went to the other. She slashed at his legs while Tamitha moved to cut off Dooku's head.

Dooku was caught having to duck and jump at the same time. Very awkward. Especially when Tulie aimed to pierce his heart with her lightsaber at the same time.

The man managed to roll backwards and away from them, gaining himself a bit of distance.

"Highly unorthodox," he scolded.

"That depends on your standard," Obi-Wan countered.

A blaster shot rang out, and Dooku was hit in the shoulder.

Tamitha, Tulie and Obi-Wan turned to see who'd fired. Tess smiled back, though it was just as much a grimace of pain.

"Not dead yet," she reminded them as she lowered her blaster.

Obi-Wan gave her a smile and a nod, and summoned Dooku's lightsaber away from him with a little tug on the Force.

"Get Tess back to the transport," she instructed Tamitha and Tulie. "I'll sit on him."

"Need for that, there is not," a voice declared from the entry of the hangar, and the gentle clipping sound of clawed feet and a walking stick echoed out.

Tulie and Tamitha straightened, Tess between them. They'd never met the Grand Master in person, but Obi-Wan had told a few stories when she visited over the years.

"Guard my old apprentice, I will," Yoda said when he came into view. "Obi-Wan, assure yourself that safe, the Senator and the youngling are."

Obi-Wan bowed to the ancient little Trog, and though she clipped Dooku's lightsaber to her belt, she hurried up the access ramp of his craft.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan blinked in surprise to see that Padme was doing push-ups on the floor of the ship. She was less surprised that Boba was counting them, but she was certainly confused.

Dann pulled off his helmet and quietly stepped up to her.

"We found plans for a space station," he whispered. "One with the capacity to literally destroy worlds. The Senator is... working out his anger over that."

"Ah," Obi-Wan said softly. "It's been a day full of unpleasant surprises for the Senator, I'm afraid."

"You're damn right it has been!" Padme snapped. An impressive thing considering how hard it often was to simply breathe while doing push-ups.

Especially after doing –

"One-hundred!" Boba declared.

Padme pushed himself to his feet and turned to glare at her.

"Padme, I much prefer diplomatic solutions, you know I do," Obi-Wan began.

"And yet you appear to have been used as a starting point for an army!" the Senator snapped. "An army which you know I have been advocating against the formation of in the Senate for months!"

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "I do know that. I also know that the Jedi have been forced into aggressive negotiations more times than anybody cares to count in the past decade – and Padme, that is how long this army has been under production."

"Ten years? But..." Padme floundered.

"I don't want there to be a need for an army. The Jedi Council don't want there to be a need for an army. We are keepers of the peace," Obi-Wan said softly as she gently claimed Padme's hands with her own. "But there has been an increasing need for soldiers. The situations the Jedi are being sent into are increasingly violent. Even if it is only a matter of a single squad accompanying a Jedi Knight to a trouble-spot, so that he or she has some back-up if things get hairy, then more Jedi are likely to return to the Temple alive and with all parts attached."

"I'm not happy about this Obi-Wan," Padme reiterated firmly.

"Nobody expects you to be Sir," Dennis offered. "Even we clones wish we weren't needed. Every one of us would rather be dusting crops, and we've got training for that too if we manage to avoid war, but protecting people and key locations from hostiles is what we were really grown for."

"We're just protecting them with violence and efficiency," Dann added.

"Padme..." Obi-Wan said, only to cut herself off with a sigh. "Let me give you a ride back to Coruscant on my ship. We can talk privately on the journey. Dann, would you mind taking charge of Boba until Jango can be found?"

"I can't come with you, Aunt Obi?" the boy asked plaintively.

"Kamino is closer to Geonosis than Coruscant," she pointed out as she squatted down to be on eye-level with the kid. "You wouldn't want to be too far away, would you?"

Boba shook his head in agreement.

"But.. what if..." he said hesitantly.

"If it turns out that the worst has happened, then you'll be where all the good memories are," Obi-Wan answered seriously, "and I'll know where you are to come running for you."

"Okay," Boba agreed softly.

"Good boy," Obi-Wan praised, and pressed a kiss to the child's forehead before she stood straight again. "Dann."

"Yes Mistress Kenobi," the trooper answered with a salute. "Come on, whipper-snapper. Let's get you home so the search for your dad can get properly started."


	17. Chapter 17

Padme and Artoo joined Obi-Wan on her recovered _Valiant_ when the Jedi and Clone forces began moving to leave Geonosis, intent on returning to Coruscant – Dooku clamped in Force-inhibiting cuffs, the other chief members of the Separatists captured, and the dangerous plans discovered were safely hidden away in Artoo's servers.

"Make yourself comfortable," Obi-Wan invited as she retracted the access ramp behind them. "I'll set co-ordinates, make the jump, and then we can sit down with some Jawa juice."

"And I'll get my answers?" Padme pressed.

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "You'll get your answers."

Padme nodded his acceptance and strapped himself in for the take-off. He knew from many conversations with Obi-Wan over the years that, though the ship was originally meant to have a co-pilot, she had long since modified it for solo runs. It was, however, going to be his first time being in Obi-Wan's ship for any real length of time. The quick hop from the landing pad to the balcony of his senatorial apartment didn't really count. He'd been half-way insensible over Palo's death at the time.

The _Valiant_ was much like Obi-Wan's quarters in the Jedi Temple. Simple, humble, and very utilitarian – and just as with Obi-Wan's apartment at the Temple, none of these things meant that the space was uncomfortable.

"Alright, we're cruising through hyperspace," Obi-Wan announced when she returned. "Artoo, do you want to go top up your power levels in the maintenance bay, or stay and listen?"

The astromech droid gave a whistle, but didn't budge.

"So, from the beginning?" Obi-Wan offered.

"If you wouldn't mind," Padme agreed firmly with a nod of his head.

"About ten years ago, I met two Masters in the Room of a Thousand Fountains," Obi-Wan started, judiciously deciding to skip a few minor details that Padme would have found interesting if he currently had the patience to hear them. Now wasn't the time. "Both were aware of the appearance of the Sith on Naboo, and could feel the encroaching darkness. One decided to leave the Jedi Order, disgusted with what he perceived as the Council's blindness over the matter."

Padme nodded to show that he understood and was listening attentively.

"The other... the other Master decided that he would do something a bit more pro-active," Obi-Wan said, picking her words carefully. "Padme, I've said it before, and I'll say it again now: Jedi are not soldiers."

Padme nodded. "I know," he agreed, and offered a small half-smile to his old friend to show that he hadn't forgotten all that he'd learned about Jedi over their long friendship.

"Master Sifo-Dyas foresaw a day when the Jedi would not be enough to protect the galaxy," Obi-Wan stated plainly. "I remember asking him if he was going to do something foolish, reckless, dangerous and secretive, in attempt to counter this vision. Master Sifo-Dyas did not counter the secretive part, and every time I think back on that conversation, I question why he told me anything at all. Perhaps he could feel through the Force that his own death would come before he could complete the task he had set for himself. I don't know."

"Obi-Wan? What did he do?" Padme asked.

Obi-Wan took a deep, bracing breath.

"He went to Kamino and commissioned an army of clones to be made," she stated.

Padme blinked.

Obi-Wan leant back in her chair to give her friend time to think through what he'd learned so far.

"Why do half the clones look like you?" he asked at last.

"Master Sifo-Dyas died before he returned to the Temple, and I requested of the Council to go and investigate his death. I went to Kamino, as I knew that to be his last destination. Master Sifo-Dyas had left, but told them he would send someone to be the base for the clones soon. That person had not arrived, and Master Sifo-Dyas was dead. I offered to be that base."

"Why didn't you cancel the order?" Padme questioned, only a little harshly.

"Kaminoans value good manners and deep pocket-books, among other things," Obi-Wan answered a little wryly. "It would have been terribly rude to cancel an order already paid for. I went back to Kamino every two years after that to help train the clones, and to monitor the project."

Padme frowned at that.

"Why did it need to be monitored?" he asked. "I get the impression that the Kaminoans know what they're doing when it comes to clones..."

"And they do," Obi-Wan confirmed. "But the other Master was Dooku, and as I have recently learned, it was Dooku who sent Jango Fett to be the other base for the clone army."

Padme's eyes grew wide in his face.

"Are you saying that Dooku almost had an army of clones _and_ droids?" Padme checked.

"If that had happened, the Republic would have been overrun in a very short time indeed," Obi-Wan pointed out. "As it is, this is going to instead be a very long fight, even though outright war has been averted, at least for now. I cannot tell how much worse it will get before we reach the end."

For a while, the two humans and the little droid sat in silence, each sunk deeply in their thoughts of what the days ahead would bring.

"Since we don't know how it will end, let's focus on how it begins, and it can begin with forgiveness," Padme said at length. "Between us, at least. Sorry for getting mad."

Obi-Wan smiled, glad that she had not lost her friendship with the Naboo Senator.

"And I am sorry for hiding this from you," Obi-Wan answered, and reached out to take one of Padme's hands in hers.

Padme brought up his other hand and wrapped it around Obi-Wan's.

"On the bright side, thanks to the presence of the clones, we were able to capture most of the known Separatist leaders, and you just might be able to effectively end this war before it truly begins," Obi-Wan offered. "It won't be all smooth-talk, there will be some force needed, and by that I mean both types, but I have faith in you."

Padme laughed, joyfully, at the reminders; that he had Obi-Wan's faith, that the feared war had not truly begun, and that Obi-Wan had a sometimes terrible sense of humour.

~oOo~

Obi-Wan brought the _Valiant_ in to the Jedi Temple's hangar, made sure her ship was properly docked, then powered the modified YT-1000 down.

"Time to wake up Senator," she called to Padme as she left the cockpit. "We've arrived, and you have a cauldron to stir."

"I -" Padme cut himself off with a yawn, blinked, and shook away the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes. Aware as he was that it would be a long session in the Senate with the prisoners the Jedi now held, and the evidence acquired, Padme had taken advantage of the long space-flight to get in what sleep he could after his conversation with Obi-Wan. "I thought it was witches that stirred cauldrons," he said, completing his original attempt at a sentence.

"Politician, witch," Obi-Wan said. Her tone held a clear implication that there was no real difference as far as she was concerned. Her expression, however, made it clear that she was merely making fun. "Oh, yes, and one more thing," she said, and held up a device that Padme was certainly familiar with.

Padme chuckled warmly as he took the vital bit of technology from her friend.

"Your recordings of... how much of your time on Geonosis?" he checked with a smile.

"Oh... I only did a bit of editing," Obi-Wan promised. "I removed the long, boring bits of me just trying to find a way in, or when I was stuck in my cell. Removed my visit to the fresher as well."

Padme's cheeks warmed, but he managed to raise a questioning eyebrow at that.

"I was about to be executed," Obi-Wan pointed out with a shrug. "When Dooku paid me a visit in my cell, I asked for use of the fresher. I think they took that as a 'last request of the condemned' sort of thing."

Padme nodded in understanding. That didn't mean his cheeks immediately cooled though.

Obi-Wan lowered the ramp, and exited her ship first.

"Master!" a young voice cried in relieved jubilation, and Obi-Wan was forced to brace herself as a slim body catapulted itself into her.

Padme smirked at the sight.

"Something else you forgot to tell me, Obi-Wan?" he queried, his cheeks cooled now in the face of true amusement.

"Nope," Obi-Wan countered as she held onto her new pupil. "I distinctly remember telling you a number of years ago that there was a youngling that I wanted as my Padawan."

"If she's your Padawan, then why wasn't she with you on your last mission?" Padme countered with a raised eyebrow. "And for that matter, why does her style of dress look more like your old 'bounty hunter' disguise than Jedi robes?"

"To the former, it might be because Ahsoka is only just now old enough to be assigned as a Padawan," Obi-Wan explained lightly, and set the young Togruta girl down on the floor. "To the latter though, I've no idea. Jedi Pawadan Ahsoka Tano, this is Senator Padme Amidala Nabirre of Naboo, and a good friend of mine, despite having chosen to make politics his profession."

Ahsoka gave a quiet 'eep' at having been childish in front of someone as important as a senator – especially a senator who was her new Master's good friend – then quickly bent to give the man a polite and proper bow.

"It's an honour to meet you," she said to the floor.

Padme chuckled.

"It's my delight to make your acquaintance, Ahsoka," he answered her, and set a hand on her shoulder so that he could urge her to stand straight. "I hope you'll help keep my friend out of trouble."

"You're the one who needs help staying out of trouble," Obi-Wan countered easily. "Especially as you have to take care of Jar-Jar as well."

Padme groaned. "Yes," he agreed, "and I'd better go and check up on him before I go and make a lot of other Senators very, very unhappy. Any chance I could get a good-luck kiss?" he asked hopefully.

"Your skills in the art of flirting have gotten a bit stale in my absence," Obi-Wan quipped with a raised eyebrow.

Padme sighed melodramatically.

R2D2 offered some whistled and bleeped a suggestion, to which Obi-Wan laughed.

"You're quite right," she agreed, and bent to kiss the little astromech's dome. "You're the one who needs all the luck, since you have to deal with both Padme _and_ Jar-Jar."

"She only likes me for my droid," Padme lamented mockingly to Ahsoka.

The young Togruta giggled behind her hand at that.

Before either of the Jedi quite caught on to Padme's intentions, he was at Obi-Wan's side and had planted a soft, tender kiss on her cheek.

"I'm taking you out for dinner tomorrow night," he said firmly. "And if you get yourself assigned a mission between now and then, I will be very upset with you."

"O-okay," Obi-Wan said softly, quite surprised by Padme's actions as she raised a hand to her cheek where he'd kissed it.

Padme nodded in satisfaction and called for R2D2 to follow as he started walking away, intent on hailing a skycab to take him back to his senatorial apartments. As the little astromech rolled past, it whistled at Obi-Wan. It might have been an innocent whistle, except that it really, really wasn't. It was cheeky in every way.

Obi-Wan blushed.

"Master?" Ahsoka enquired, confused.

Obi-Wan shook her head. There was no way she was going to admit to her new Padawan that the astromech had recorded that little moment of intimacy. She did not need a student who knew where to get their hands on blackmail.

"Obi-Wan!" a new voice called out. A familiar one.

"Bant!" she answered, and welcomed her friend's embrace.

"You sneaky so-an-so," Bant scolded fondly, a smile on her face. "An army, Obi-Wan, and not a word to any of us about it!"

"Orders," Obi-Wan shrugged.

The Mon Cal folded her arms over her chest.

"Last I heard, you were against the formation of an army," Bant said.

Obi-Wan nodded.

"I wish it were not needed, I wish even more that nobody desired it," Obi-Wan agreed. "Despite my wishing, there is need. We captured key Separatist leaders today, but though we have prevented war..."

"There will still be many battles to fight," Bant agreed with a sad sigh. "Obi-Wan... who is this youngling?"

"My new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano," Obi-Wan answered with a smile. "Ahsoka, this is my friend Bant Eerin, former Padawan to Master Tahl, and an excellent Healer."

Ahsoka bowed to the Mon Cal respectfully.

"About time you took a Padawan," Bant quipped playfully to her friend.

"You haven't yet," Obi-Wan countered lightly. "Ahsoka, your first chore as my Padawan is going to be to polish my ship. That should keep you out of trouble while I give my formal report to the Council."

Ahsoka's spine abruptly straightened, and she looked frantically between the _Valiant_ and Obi-Wan, big blue eyes silently begging her Master to be joking. The modified YT-1000 wasn't small, after all.

~oOo~

Quinlan and Siri were waiting for Obi-Wan when she emerged from the Council Chamber after giving the Council Masters her formal report. Quinlan was wearing that grin of his that meant he intended to drag as many of their friends off down to the lower levels of Coruscant as were on planet. Siri's smaller smirk meant that she knew there was gossip to be had, and she wanted it from Obi-Wan.

"I am not going anywhere with either of you," Obi-Wan stated firmly. "And you can't make me. I have a Padawan I have to check on right now."

"Aha!" Siri declared, and shoved a finger up in Obi-Wan's face. "You have a Padawan now!"

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed with a sardonic eye-roll as she moved past her friends to walk down the hall. "And I left her polishing my ship, so if you don't mind..."

"We'll come with you," Quinlan stated, clearly still intent on getting to the lower levels, even if he had to kidnap Obi-Wan's new Padawan to get her to come.

It would be a good learning experience for the Togrutan girl, of that, Obi-Wan didn't have any doubts, and Obi-Wan was too far from the stuffy norm of Jedi Masters to have too many objections to her student getting in as many lessons as the galaxy had to offer. But she would be the one in charge of Ahsoka's corruption in regards to how the universe actually worked outside of the Temple, not Quinlan.

Thank you very much.

"So, tell me about your new Padawan," Siri goaded with an eager smile as they walked.

"Her name is Ahsoka Tano, she's a Togrutan, and she has only been my Padawan since I landed," Obi-Wan offered. "At which point I left her to polish my ship while I gave my report. I expect her to be put-out with me when we reach the hangar."

Siri giggled and Quinlan gave a bark of laughter.

Obi-Wan just smiled.

Quinlan took over the conversation then, hashing out where they would go and what they would do in the lower levels that evening. Siri made contributions, but Obi-Wan just nodded along and kept her mouth shut until they reached the docking bay where she had left her ship and her Padawan.

Obi-Wan's smile grew at the sight that greeted her.

"You have been very busy," Obi-Wan observed, pleased to find that her ship was shining like it hadn't ever been to Kamino or Geonosis, with their vastly different (but equally extreme) sorts of weather. "I am impressed."

"Thank you Master," Ahsoka said, and a bright smile lit up her tired face. She was either propping up, or was being propped up by the long handle of the large buffing mop that she had clearly used to get the _Valiant_ as shiny as it currently was.

"But you know, I didn't expect you to work quite so fast," Obi-Wan admitted, just a touch ruefully as she gently took the buffing mop from the young Togrutan girl. "Or maybe I didn't expect it to take so long to make my report to the Council. Either way, I had anticipated helping you with the polishing once I got done."

Ahsoka sagged where she stood. Her muddled emotions of relief (that the job was done), pride (that her Jedi Master had said she did well), and frustration (that she hadn't needed to exhaust herself the way she had) were all as plain to see on her face as the markings of her race.

Obi-Wan chuckled, and pulled the girl up against her side.

"You deserve a reward for such hard work," she declared. "How would you like to see some of the lower levels of Coruscant with myself and a few of my friends?"

Through her fatigue, excitement lit up the little Togrutan's eyes at the prospect.

Quinlan cheered in victory. He had, after all, been planning on dragging Obi-Wan down with him and as many of their friends as he could.

~oOo~

Of all things, a dress had been delivered to Obi-Wan's quarters. It would have been a completely confusing matter if there hadn't been a note attached.

 _I'll pick you up at six. Padme_.

Obi-Wan was going to guess that, while Padme had been hiding in her rooms at the temple, he'd snooped through her wardrobe and learned her sizes. Very likely he'd ordered the dress to be made for her before the incident on Geonosis, considering how much work must have gone into making it. Which meant that Padme had been planning to ask her to dinner, and it wasn't just a spur of the moment thing.

She was tempted to not wear the dress. It would be very awkward to wear it through the halls of the Temple, where everybody else wore robes. Some a little more elaborate, some a little more utilitarian, but nothing that even resembled this. Besides, where could they possibly be going that Jedi robes weren't enough?

"Oh, just wear it, Master," Ahsoka said, mischief in her eyes and a smile on her face. "The dress is nice. How often does any Jedi have excuse, cause, or even a _chance_ to wear something as nice as this dress? And look, Senator Amidala picked one that will go with your boots, and it even has somewhere that you can put your lightsaber!"

That was a rather expertly hidden pocket, actually. Obi-Wan would be able to get to her weapon easily, and no one would even know that she was armed to look at her. For that matter, it was unlikely that anybody would know she was a Jedi at all, unless they knew her personally, if she went out wearing that. Which was actually a large part of what was making Obi-Wan so uncomfortable with the gifted garment.

Which was ridiculous. After all, she had no problem with discarding her robes and pretending to be a bounty hunter when it was called for. Why was a nice dress so different then?

" _I agree with your Padawan,_ " Qui-Gon offered as his ghost shimmered into view.

Ahsoka yelped in surprise and tumbled off the couch in shock, big blue eyes staring at the translucent image of a man in the middle of the apartment.

"Ahsoka, my late Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Master, my shiny new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano," Obi-Wan presented blandly. "This, my young Padawan, is what the Code means about _death, yet the Force_ ," she added with a slightly mischievous smirk.

"You're... dead?" Ahsoka asked Qui-Gon directly.

" _Yes_ ," Qui-Gon confirmed easily, " _and for the record, while dying hurt at the time, being dead is really very pleasant_."

"Good to know," Ahsoka murmured, then visibly shook herself. "No distractions. Focusing on the moment! Or the moment to come, or- ! Master, just put on the dress already, or you'll make the Senator have to wait while you get ready to go to dinner with him."

"You are far too bossy for a fresh Padawan," Obi-Wan teased.

" _You weren't much better at that age, as I recall_ ," Qui-Gon offered brightly. " _Go get changed, Obi-Wan. Enjoy this evening to the fullest. Don't focus on your anxieties._ "

"Fine!" Obi-Wan relented in the face of the oft-repeated advice. She then shooed Ahsoka out and eye-balled her late Master until he faded away before she started to undress.

~The End~


End file.
